United Breweries’ quarterly profit jumps 190% on premium beer demand

United Breweries reported a sharp increase in quarterly profit on Tuesday as stronger beer demand in India, led by premium brands, lifted sales volumes and margins.

The brewer, part of the Heineken group, said net profit for the September quarter rose 190% from a year earlier to Rs 135 crore, up from Rs 46.5 crore in the same period last year. Revenue from operations increased 23.6% to Rs 2,537 crore, compared with Rs 2,052 crore a year earlier, according to the company’s exchange filing.

Profit growth was helped by stronger operating performance and a rise in other income. United Breweries said other income increased to Rs 41.3 crore from Rs 14.9 crore. That figure included Rs 36.89 crore in interest on income-tax refunds, which provided an additional lift to the quarter’s bottom line.

The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, or EBITDA, almost doubled to Rs 259 crore from Rs 130 crore a year earlier. Based on the headline financial figures in the exchange filing, EBITDA margin expanded to 10.2% from 6.3%.

United Breweries said the main driver was continued growth in premium beer. Volumes sold to distributors rose 16% during the quarter, while premium beer volumes climbed 38%. Within that segment, Heineken Silver volumes increased 67% and Kingfisher Ultra grew 44%, pointing to stronger consumer demand for higher-priced products.

The company said net sales rose 24%, supported by volume growth, price increases, premiumization and a favorable geographic and operating mix. It also reported a 194-basis-point improvement in gross margin, which it attributed to structural margin-recovery measures and disciplined revenue management.

In its press release, United Breweries gave a somewhat different set of operating margin figures from those implied by the headline filing numbers. The company said EBITDA margin improved by 480 basis points to 11.9%, while earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT, rose 161% and EBIT margin expanded 441 basis points to 8.4%. The materials released with the results did not reconcile the difference between those operating measures and the margin calculated from the headline figures.

Vivek Gupta, the company’s managing director and chief executive, said the quarter reflected faster beer demand, a stronger brand mix and disciplined execution of the company’s growth plans. He said premiumization remained a key source of value creation and that the brewer planned to raise commercial investments in the coming quarter to support growth.

For the first half of fiscal year 2027, United Breweries said volume grew 12% and net sales increased 14%. EBIT rose 35%, while profit after tax was up 31%.

The results add to signs that the premium end of India’s beer market is expanding faster than the broader category, a trend that could shape investment, pricing and brand strategy across the drinks industry. Stronger demand for premium beer can improve revenue growth and margins for brewers, and it may push competitors in beer and other alcoholic beverages to lean more heavily on higher-value products.

United Breweries said it would continue to focus on widening distribution, strengthening its brand portfolio, improving productivity and controlling costs as it seeks to capture more growth in India’s beer market. The company also said free operating cash flow continued to improve, which it expects to use to support future investment.