?UB bets Kingfisher Storm to compete with Carlsberg

United Breweries announced its plans to launch Amstel Grande, a premium Dutch beer brewed in Amsterdam since the late 1800s, to the Indian market. Although the exact launch date has not been disclosed, the move aligns with growing consumer demand for premium beer in India.

“Amstel, the iconic premium beer brand crafted in Amsterdam since 1870, is excited to announce its debut in India with Amstel Grande. Slow brewed with the finest ingredients, Amstel Grande promises to deliver an unparalleled beer experience to Indian consumers,” United Breweries stated in a recent regulatory filing.

United Breweries highlighted that premium beer consumption in India saw a notable 27 percent increase in the second quarter of FY2025, bringing half-yearly growth to 35 percent. This growth has been mainly driven by a surge in demand for Kingfisher Ultra, Kingfisher Ultra Max, and Heineken Silver, as noted in the company’s report.

“We remain optimistic about the industry's long-term growth potential, driven by increasing disposable income, favorable demographics, and premiumization,” United Breweries added.

Heineken NV, the parent company of United Breweries, also reported a 4.5 percent volume growth in its premium beer category in the September quarter, attributed to flagship Heineken along with contributions from Kingfisher Ultra in India. According to Heineken Chairman and CEO Dolf van den Brink, this growth in India, alongside Indonesia, helped offset a 1.2 percent organic decline in beer volume across the Asia Pacific region, as lower volumes were recorded in Vietnam and Cambodia.

Country’s biggest brewer that sells Kingfisher,appoints Rishi Pardal as the new CEO and managing director. The new MD will suceed Shekhar Ramamurthy(58), who was with UB group for 31 years, of which he spent last five years as its CEO and MD.

As per the latest reports, Pardal will join UB on June 12 in preparation to take charge from Ramamurthy and familiarise with the business. He will hold office as MD for a period of five years which will be extendable based on approval of the shareholders thereafter.

Some Facts about the new MD of United Breweries

Prior to this, Pardal’s was the Vice President and General Manager at Avery Dennison Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company based out of Hong Kong. Before this role, he was the MD of Marico Bangladesh, following a 14-year career in sales and management roles with Hindustan Unilever. Pardal has studied from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.

As per reports, Heineken-controlled UB had reported a net profit decline of 2.56% at Rs 106.37 crore for the third quarter that ended in December, while net sales was impacted by economic slowdown and new excise policy in Andhra Pradesh. In such a scenario, it would be interesting to note the kind of positive changes that will be brought along by Pardal.

United Breweries Limited has forayed into the alternate beer category with the launch of the Kingfisher Ultra Witbier, the first non-lager beer from the house of Kingfisher.

The craft-style beer is brewed with the authentic Belgian wheat beer recipe, offering a refreshing, light and sessionable taste. With an ABV of lower than 5%, the beer is a rich blend of all-natural extracts of orange and coriander, spices sourced from Belgium and new world aromatic hops sourced from the USA.

Debabrata Mukherjee, Chief Marketing Officer, United Breweries Limited, said, “Every consumer need across categories is important to us, and it is our responsibility to provide choice in our portfolio. With our first offering in the speciality beer segment, Kingfisher Ultra Witbier wideness our footprint and provides another innovative beverage option in the beer category.”

Kingfisher Ultra Witbier

Kingfisher Ultra Witbier is available in 3 SKUs, a 330 ml bottle, a 500 ml can and a 650 ml bottle, priced at Rs 110, Rs 150 and Rs 185respectively in Karnataka state. The new offering is packaged with a blend of old school and modern graphic design, and the wheatish label is inspired by the product’s key ingredient.

Kingfisher Ultra Witbier is geared up to capture markets with its authentic Belgian wheat beer recipe and is now available across Karnataka and Goa. It will soon be available in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Haryana.

“Consumers today expect more from their beers- they crave uniqueness in flavor, taste &experience. Ultra Witbier will retain the sense of style and authenticity of the parent brand ULTRA, and we are confident it will appeal to our consumers across the country,” Mukherjee added.

Kingfisher ULTRA

Kingfisher ULTRA, the Emperor of Good Times was launched in September 2009. A premium offering from United Breweries, ULTRA assures consumers the best quality, taste and the most differentiated experience across every touchpoint. Kingfisher ULTRA is made from the finest ingredients which have a distinctive taste.

The brand has based its activations on prominent genres like fashion and music. Apart from these, Kingfisher ULTRA has also launched various other activations and promotions across all points of sale which have met with positive responses amongst its consumers. It is a beer for the modern, urban, confident, independent and self-assured consumer. It is for those who want the best and deserve the best. It is currently available in all major cities of the country.

Indian Beer Market

According to the report, the Indian Alcoholic beverages market observed the highest market share of Whisky which is followed by brandy & beer. Being third in the Indian alcohol beverages market, the Indian Beer market has a market share of 17%.

The rise in disposable income of the Indian population has somewhere led the consumers to shift from standard beers to premium and craft beers. The population is turning more brand conscious, offering numerous business opportunities to entrepreneurs.

United Breweries Limited has introduced Kingfisher Radler, its new non-alcoholic beverage, across India. Bringing a new outlook to the soft drink category, Kingfisher Radler is a 100% natural drink that contains 30% less sugar than carbonated soft drinks.

The non-alcoholic beverage is a blend of fresh barley malts and natural lemon juice. It will be available in three refreshing flavours, including Lemon, Ginger-Lime and Mint-Lime.

Kingfisher Radler is made available in two classic formats, a 300ml can (priced at Rs 45) and a 300ml glass bottle (priced at Rs 70).

United Breweries Ltd (UBL) posted an all-round performance with double-digit volume growth, higher realizations and increased gross contribution of 60bps along with better managed fixed costs, to deliver a significant increase in profits for the fourth quarter ended March 2019.

All key markets, except for West Bengal, witnessed growth. In West Bengal, there was a large drop in consumption on account of a steep duty hike in January 2018.

Regional performances for the year ended March 2019:

In the North, UBL saw significant volume growth in Rajasthan and Haryana. Delhi volumes were flat and there was a decline in volumes in U.P primarily because of capacity constraints.

In the South, UBL registered double-digit volume growth in all the markets with the exception of Karnataka, where growth was restricted to high single digits.

Growth in the East was driven by Odisha and Jharkhand.

In the West, all the key markets grew in single digits while Rest of Maharashtra grew in double digits on account of the base effect.

In the fourth quarter, volume grew in all markets except West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.

UBL’s growth continues to lead the industry, strengthening its market position.

The good performance generated healthy operating cash flows, which along with better working capital management helped internal funding of Rs 430 crores investments in the business. Lower gross debt helped to reduce interest costs by 34%.

United Breweries (UB) has hired Debabrata Mukherjee, a former Hindustan Times executive, as its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Mukherjee is set to join in April. He will be relocating to Bengaluru from Gurugram.

Mukherjee has more than 24 years of experience in marketing and sales operation. He began his career as Area Sales Manager in Hindustan Lever Ltd, where he worked for four years.

Mukherjee joined Coca Cola India in 1998. In 2013, he was made the Vice President of South West Asia Operations of Coca Cola India. He joined HT Media as an Executive Director in 2018.

UB is the largest beer maker in India. It is controlled by Dutch beer giant Heineken.

United Breweries Ltd (UBL), India's largest beer maker, has entered the non-alcoholic beverages segment with the introduction of its lemon-based drink brand Kingfisher Radler. The company has first launched Kingfisher Radler in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Radler is a 100% natural drink containing 30% less sugar than carbonated soft drinks. The product caters to the demand of health-conscious young adults, who are on the lookout for a refreshing new alternative.

Ramesh Vishwanathan, Chief New Business Officer, United Breweries Limited, said, "United Breweries is widening its product portfolio and addressing new consumers and new consumption occasions. This product category, malt-based non-alcoholic beverage, is growing fast in Europe and we are pioneering the effort in India. The product would be made widely available across outlets carrying soft drinks, through our new distribution network for non-alcoholic beverages."

The new product is being launched in three flavours, which includes lemon, ginger lime and mint lime. The drink will be offered in a 300 ml can and a 300 ml glass bottle.

Shekhar Ramamurthy, Managing Director of UBL, said, "The actual market size (and opportunity) of the soft beverages market is much, much larger than the beer market. And there is a bit of fatigue today with existing packaged soft drinks. Consumers are looking for refreshments that are not too sugary and yet taste good."

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has raided the offices of India's United Breweries, Denmark's Carlsberg and the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) as part of an investigation of price-fixing allegations.

Search and seizure operations were conducted by the anti-trust watchdog at the offices of three top beer companies in at least two Indian cities.

CCI has been conducting an antitrust investigation of the three companies for the past year. The government said that the raids found email exchanges which showed that the companies were fixing prices. 

A spokesman for AB InBev in India said, "It would not be appropriate for us to comment at this time."

"We take antitrust compliance very seriously. Integrity and ethics are part of our core values, embodied in our company culture. Our Code of Business Conduct makes clear that our employees must understand and comply with all applicable competition laws," the spokesman added.

United Breweries on Thursday posted 9.9 per cent increase in its profit to Rs 162.14 crore in the quarter ended on June 30, 2017. The company had registered a profit of Rs 147.47 crore in the same period a year ago. The total income from operations of the company increased by about 17 per cent to Rs 3,816.39 crore in the reported quarter compared to Rs 3,258.24 crore in the corresponding period of 2016-17. Shares of United Breweries closed at Rs 823.85, down by 1.22 per cent compared to the previous close, on BSE today. 

India's largest brewer, United Breweries has reported a 87 per cent decline in profit for the quarter ended in March 2017 from a year ago on the back of shutdown of Bihar operations, destocking by liquor by retailers due to highway ban anticipation and increase in duty fee.

Kingfisher-maker posted profit of Rs 6.7 crore from Rs 52 crore in the corresponding quarter. Revenue for the same period grew by 2.7 per cent to Rs 2562 crore.

In a BSE filing, the company said, "The Supreme Court order directing all outlets within 500 meters to close from the 1st of April has had a significant impact on the industry in quarter 4. The industry saw a decline of about 13 per cent. We expect the impact of this ban to be most significant in the first two quarters of this fiscal year."

The company said in a separate filing that brewing operations at its manufacturing unit in Bihar have been discontinued due to prohibition of alcohol in the state.

Industry volume growth slipped by 5%, whereas UBL saw a 2.5% decline in volume.

United Breweries, which has 52 per cent market share, recently launched strong beer Kingfisher Storm and has plans to launch about half a dozen international brands to boost the declining market.

One of India's largest beer maker, United Breweries will call for an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders to evict its chairman Vijay Mallya, if the latter fails to accede to a request made by the board of directors to step down, after Sebi barred him from holding any post in public listed companies.

This could also coincide with Dutch beer giant Heineken, which owns 43 percent stake, moving to take "effective management control" of the Kingfisher beer maker, people directly familiar with the matter said.

The fugitive tycoon Mallya has not responded to United Breweries' move to get him to quit the board. He has not yet moved Securities Appellate Tribunal to get the January 25 order stayed or vacated.

Mallya and Heineken had entered into a shareholding pact, which was based on equal ownership of around 37.5 percent each. This gave both the parties rights to three seats each in a 12-member boardroom with six independent directors.

However, the agreement between Mallya and Heineken is said to have lapsed after the latter starting mopping up Mallya's pledged shares being offloaded by the lenders. Mallya's direct and indirect shareholding stands at about 31 percent now.

Heineken has not openly bickered with the beleaguered Indian industrialist, unlike Diageo's falling out with Mallya in United Spirits. However, this may be changing and soon enough, depending on Mallya's response to the recent developments. A detailed questionnaire and phone calls to Heineken went unanswered at the time of going to press.

A spokesperson for Mallya said he had no statements to offer. Sources said Heineken was preparing to bid for nearly 11 percent stake owned by Mallya's investment holding company UB Holdings, which is facing liquidation.

Earlier this week, the Karnataka high court ordered winding up UBHL with shares in companies such as United Breweries and United Spirits, besides immovable assets including a luxury retail mall. This could make Heineken a controlling shareholder and and provide a platform to push for total management control.

United Breweries is looking to introduce its malt-based ready-to -drink (RTD) beverage 'Kingfisher Buzz’, which is launched recently in all major cities of the country by this year end.

Currently, Kingfisher Buzz is available in two flavours berry and lychee in Mumbai, Pune and Thane. The company plans to add more flavours to expand its portfolio in the segment, reported PTI.

"In the next few days, we will be launching in Bengaluru and Goa, followed by Delhi. Over the next 12 months, Buzz would be made available across all major cities and towns in India," said Samar Singh Sheikhawat, UBL Senior VP Marketing. Kingfisher Buzz would be in direct competition with Bacardi Breezer, which is a market leader in the segment.

"The introduction of Buzz marks UBL's latest efforts in product innovation, and is an extension of the company's portfolio that caters to even non-beer drinkers. We have launched Buzz with the intention of extending our product portfolio and are expanding our customer base to make a steady impact in the RTD segment," Sheikhawat said.

Over expansion of Buzz in other flavours, Sheikhawat said, "This category demands the introduction of new flavours and we have concrete plans of introducing new variants in the coming months. Our product development team is constantly innovating and we have some exciting flavours in the pipeline.

The estimated market size of RTD is of around two million cases and the segment has an annual growth of around 11-12 per cent.

"Kingfisher Buzz is targeted at urban young men and women, who are above the legal drinking age, and are looking for a differentiated alcobev experience," he said adding that the Buzz's packaging is young and edgy, which makes it ideal go-to drink for our target audience.

The maker of Heineken beer, Heineken International BV has increased its stake in United Breweries as it bought shares worth Rs 39.48 crore in the company through an open market transaction, reported PTI.

According to block deals data available with BSE, Heineken International bought 4,25,000 shares or 0.15 per cent stake, in UBL for Rs 39.48 crore.

The shares were bought from Yes Bank at an average price of Rs 951.50 apiece.

As on 30th September, Heineken held 42.07 per cent stake in UBL through three companies - Heineken International B V, Heineken UK Ltd and Scottish & Newscastle India Ltd.

While Scottish & Newscastle India Ltd held 34.04 per cent stake in the firm, Heineken International B V held 4.82 per cent and Heineken UK Ltd held 3.21 per cent.

Heineken had indirectly acquired 37.5 per cent stake in UBL following its worldwide takeover of Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) in January 2008. Following the deal, Heineken has been raising stake in UBL through open market transactions.

United Breweries owned by Vijay Mallya today said it has not received any notice from Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) over alleged fund diversions by the long-grounded Kingfisher Airlines to other group entities.

United Breweries' submission to the stock exchanges comes a day after United Spirits Ltd (USL), which is now controlled by Diageo, said SFIO has sought information from the company about alleged fund diversions by Kingfisher Airlines, reported PTI.

"We would like to inform you that United Breweries Ltd (UBL) has not received any kind of notice from SFIO nor is aware of any development in this regard," the company said in a filing to the BSE.

Yesterday, United Spirits had confirmed that the SFIO has sought information from the company about alleged fund diversions by Kingfisher Airlines.

USL had said it has received a letter from SFIO in connection with its investigation into Kingfisher Airlines.

Without disclosing specific details, United Spirits said it was cooperating with the authorities in providing the required information.

UBL's filing came in response to clarification sought by the BSE about reports that SFIO was probing flow of funds between Kingfisher Airlines and some other group companies, including United Breweries.

Going by reports, the amount involved is estimated to be worth thousands of crores.

Faced with mounting debt and operational woes, Kingfisher Airlines was grounded in late 2012. The carrier had accumulated losses of Rs 16,023 crore, while its net worth fell to a negative Rs 12,919 crore at the end of March 2013.

Shares of United Breweries fell 1.84 per cent to Rs 851.45 on the BSE.