United Breweries, India's largest brewing company under the UB Group, has reported that its net profit has halved during the second quarter of the current fiscal to Rs 5.1 crore as against Rs 10.5 crore for the corresponding period of last year.
The company reasoning this fall in net profit has said that its sales promotions and advertising spends has shot up by 27 per cent during the first six months of the fiscal as it tries to hold on to its close to 40 per cent share in the Indian beer market.
Its main competitor SAB Miller is closing this gap with various of its brands and has around 35 per cent share in the Indian beer market. Topline for United Breweries has moved up by 28 per cent to Rs 361 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2008.