Aug 4 (Reuters) – India’s United Breweries on Tuesday reported a fall in first-quarter profit, as high raw material costs and stiff competition eroded the benefits of seasonal demand.
The company, majority-owned by Heineken, posted a profit of 1.66 billion rupees ($17.40 million) for the quarter ended June 30, down from 1.84 billion rupees a year earlier.
• “We expect inflationary pressures on our cost base to persist over the coming quarters amid an uncertain macroeconomic environment,” CEO Vivek Gupta said.
• While the April to June quarter is seasonally the strongest for Indian brewers, the muted results point to a challenging operating environment.
• United Breweries saw elevated prices during the quarter for packaging materials, including glass and aluminum, due to the Middle East crisis.
• The company’s total expenses for the quarter climbed 11.7% from a year earlier to 57.43 billion rupees, lifted by a 6.4% rise in cost of materials consumed and a 13.4% rise in excise duty.
• Revenue from operations rose 10% to 59.17 billion rupees, helped by price increases and a double-digit growth in the beer category.
($1 = 95.3775 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Anuran Sadhu in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)