United Spirits, India’s leading spirits group and owned by billionaire Vijay Mallya, has more than tripled net profits in its fiscal third quarter and reported sales up by nearly a third.
Net profits after tax reached INR9.68bn (US$209m) for the three months to the end of December, compared to INR30.6bn in the same period of 2008, United Spirits said late yesterday (21 January).
Net sales rose by 31% to INR13.58bn, boosted by price increases and an end to a regulatory dispute with authorities in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
Volume sales rose by 12% to 26.5m cases, representing a slower rate of growth from fiscal 2008, when case sales were rising closer to 20%. Volumes rose by 13% for the nine months to the end of December.
The group said it has used long-term supply contracts to insulate itself from a “quantum step-up” in spirit costs in its current fiscal year. However, it added that spirit costs in the third quarter were lower than a spike in the same period of 2008.
Among its brands, United Spirits singled out newly launched Whyte & Mackay Special, a mid-market Scotch whisky, as a strong performer. The whisky is being bottled in India.
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By GlobalDataSubsidiary Whyte & Mackay has reported a “stable performance” for the fiscal year so far, the firm added.
United Spirits has spend recent months seeking finance to help it pay down a US$625m loan taken out to fund its acquisition of Whyte & Mackay for $1.1bn in 2007.
Earlier this week, Whyte & Mackay reported a strong rise in profits for the year to the end of March 2008.
To read the just-drinks interview with the Scotch whisky group’s CEO, John Beard, click here.
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