United Spirits has posted a healthy lift in net profits for its fiscal year, despite slowing momentum in the final quarter.

The spirits arm of India’s UB Group said today (21 April) that net profits for the 12 months to the end of March came in at INR4.01bn (US$89.8m) compared to INR2.97bn in the corresponding period a year earlier. Net sales were also up, albeit less impressively, to INR49.6bn versus INR41.4bn.

Operating profits similarly headed north for the year, coming in at INR8.09bn against INR6.42bn in fiscal year 2008-2009.

For the unit’s fourth quarter, the rise in net profits slowed to INR568.5m compared to INR556.2m, while net sales climbed to INR12.66bn from INR9.23bn. Operating profits increased to INR1.84bn against INR1.50bn in the same quarter a year earlier.

In volume terms in the final quarter, United Spirits enjoyed a 16% increase in shipments of cases, which totalled 25.7m in the three-month period. Full-year volumes were up by 13.5% to 100.2m cases, with the unit claiming that it is now “the second largest distilled spirits marketer (globally) by volume”, behind Diageo.

“The company has its sights set on attaining the No. 1 position during fiscal 2011,” the firm noted.

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United Spirits hailed its flagship McDowell’s No.1 spirits range, which offers whisky, brandy and rum variants, as leading the volume rise, with the brand delivering a 13% increase in case sales.

Bagpiper rum became the firm’s 20th ‘millionaire brand’ – signifying sales of over 1m cases in a fiscal year – during the 12-month period.

United Spirits also said today that it’s long-planned merger of Balaji Distilleries, initially announced back in December 2008, is expected to complete in the second quarter of its current fiscal year. Balaji Distilleries’ site in Chennai is India’s largest Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) facility, with monthly production in the region of 1m cases.

To read the official press release, click here.

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