India's Sula Vineyards posts 4.8% rise in Q4 profit on strong sales

Sula Vineyards

03/05/2023 12:29

BENGALURU, May 3 (Reuters) - India's biggest winemaker
Sula Vineyards Ltd  SULA.NS  reported a 4.8% rise in
fourth-quarter consolidated net profit on Wednesday, boosted by
demand for premium wines and an upswing in visits to its
vineyards and resorts. 
    The Mumbai-based company, which became India's only
publicly-listed winemaker in December last year, posted a
consolidated profit of 142.5 million Indian rupees ($1.74
million) for the quarter ended March. 31. 
    The owner of alcohol brands such as Rasa and Dindori had, in
April, said that its fourth-quarter net revenue from the 'own
brands' category stood at 1.04 billion rupees.
    This accounted for 86.3% of its total quarterly revenue from
operations, up from around 80% in the same period a year
earlier.
    Revenue from wine tourism also rose 18% to 125 million
rupees.
    For the full year, Sula reported a nearly 30% revenue jump
in the Elite & Premium wine segment and an 18.7% jump in revenue
from the Economy & Popular wine segment.
    "Our focus on premiumisation is reaping rich dividends -
more than 52% of a total one million cases for the full year are
our Elite & Premium wines," Sula CEO Rajeev Samant said in
April. 
    Sula, which entered the alcohol market in the southern
Indian state of Kerala in February, says it is now available in
all non-dry states of the country.
    "Sula is well-placed to leverage a global consumer shift
towards the low-alcohol beverage segment - beer and wine - with
huge headroom to grow," analysts at CLSA had said in March. 
    Shares of the company have risen ~20% since its market debut
last year. They closed 2.8% higher on Wednesday ahead of the
results.
    
($1 = 81.7810 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Biplob Kumar Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane
Venkatraman)
 ((Biplobkumar.das@thomsonreuters.com; 9101861583;))