 "Varun Beverages' profit up 53% to Rs 395.48 crore in Sept quarter")
Varun Beverages Ltd, PepsiCo's largest franchise bottler, on Tuesday reported a 53.34 per cent jump in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 395.48 crore for the September quarter, helped by revenue growth and transition to lower tax rate in India.
The company, which follows January-December financial year, had posted a profit after tax of Rs 257.90 crore in the July-September quarter of 2021.
Varun Beverages Ltd's (VBL) revenue from operations in the latest September quarter stood at Rs 3,248.30 crore, up 33.10 per cent as compared to Rs 2,440.43 crore in the year-ago period.
Its revenue from operations was up "on account of robust volume growth over last year and higher realisation on a consolidated basis," VBL said in its earning statement.
"Sales volumes in India grew by 22.1 per cent in Q3 CY2022 to 148 million cases and in international markets grew by 31.3 per cent to 42 million cases. Total volume for the quarter was 190 million cases," it added.
The company said profit after tax increased by 53.3 per cent, driven by high growth in revenue from operations, improvement in margins, and transition to a lower tax rate in India.
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VBL's total expenses were at Rs 2,747.74 crore, up 29.18 per cent in the September quarter.
The company's Chairman Ravi Jaipuria said its India business has delivered a "solid organic volume growth" of 22 per cent led by a favourable demand environment and the strong performance of energy drink - Sting.
"In addition, healthy double-digit sales volume growth of 31 per cent in our key international markets further assisted performance during the quarter," he said.
About the outlook, he said the demand environment for the beverage industry has been robust and VBL is witnessing a healthy offtake in India as well as in its international markets.
"The festive season in Q4 is expected to further aid consumption trends in this calendar year. We are confident that we can sustainably deliver healthy volume growth across all product categories going forward and further strengthen our market position in the beverage industry," he said.
In a separate filing, VBL said its board has approved the proposal to enter into an agreement by Varun Beverages Morocco SA, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company to distribute and sell Lays, Doritos and Cheetos for PepsiCo's wholly-owned subsidiaries in the territory of Morocco with effect from January 2023.
Shares of VBL rose 5.39 per cent to close at Rs 1,106.75 apieice on BSE.