India's United Breweries profit rises as drinkers opt for pricier beers

United Breweries

07/05/2025 15:44

May 7 (Reuters) - United Breweries UBBW.NS, the largest beer seller in India, reported a 20.5% increase in quarterly profit on Wednesday, lifted by solid demand for higher-priced beers and lower excise duty costs.

The Kingfisher beer maker's standalone profit rose to 973.8 million rupees ($11.50 million) in the fourth quarter ended March 31, from 808.4 million rupees an year earlier.

United Breweries, majority-owned by Netherlands-based Heineken HEIN.AS, reported a 7.6% decline in revenue after it briefly stopped supply to India's top beer consuming state, Telangana. Still, volumes were up 5% in the quarter, with those of premium beers jumping 24%.

Total expenses dropped 8.6%, led by a 21% decline in excise duty.

KEY CONTEXT

Indians with more means are shrugging off high cost of living to spend on indulgences from Nestle's NEST.NS pricier chocolates to costlier beers sold by United Breweries, Anheuser-Busch InBev's ABI.BR Budweiser and Carlsberg CARLb.CO.

In the reported quarter, however, United Breweries was at odds with Telangana over delayed payments and a lack of government approval for price increases since 2019/20.

PEER COMPARISON

Estimates (next 12 months)
Analysts' sentiment
RIC
PE
EV/EBITDA
Revenue growth (%)
Profit growth (%)
Mean rating*
# of analysts
Stock to price target**
Div yield (%)
United Breweries Ltd
UBBW.NS
67.03
43.41
13.62
51.54
Hold
11
1.03
0.47
United Spirits Ltd
UNSP.NS
62.51
43.40
11.93
18.02
Buy
12
1.00
0.41
Radico Khaitan Ltd
RADC.NS
67.21
40.70
12.03
42.11
Buy
6
0.99
0.16
Tilaknagar Industries Ltd
TILK.NS
29.95
19.15
15.14
-13.29
Strong Buy
1
0.61
0.18

* The mean of analysts' ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

     JANUARY TO MARCH STOCK PERFORMANCE

 -- All data from LSEG

 -- $1 = 84.6510 Indian rupees

($1 = 84.6660 Indian rupees)

UBBW v peers https://tmsnrt.rs/3F2fPUk

 (Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

 ((Praveen.Paramasivam@thomsonreuters.com; +91 867-525-3569;))