United Breweries net down 94% on mergers

CORPORATE SCORECARD

The bottomline of United Breweries of the UB Group has dipped a whopping 94.5 per cent to Rs 69 lakh in the third quarter of the current financial year.

The company has attributed this to the amalgamation of Karnataka Breweries and Distilleries Limited (KBDL), a wholly owned subsidiary, into the company and thus making the two periods non-comparable.

Sales increased by 47 per cent during the quarter to Rs 306 crore compared with the corresponding period last year. Total expenses went up by 62 per cent to Rs 295.7 crore. The purchase of the traded goods more than doubled to Rs 36.11 crore on a y-o-y basis.

Advertisement and sales promotion expenses also went up by 52 per cent to Rs 70 crore. Interest payments went up by 69 per cent to Rs 9.2 crore. The company said it has adopted a turn-around strategy for the joint venture operations.

"This has led to a rationalisation of spend, a repositioning of the combined brands, restructuring the debt profile of the JV in order to reduce the cost of borrowing, all of which generated positive earning before interest, depreciation and taxes for the quarter," UB officials said.

The company has filed its Draft Letter of Offer with the Sebi on January 10 for issue of equity shares on rights basis up to Rs 425 crore.