Fundamentals of business very sound; cautiously optimistic on recovery: United Breweries MD & CEO

Our fundamentals of the business are very sound, said Rishi Pardal, MD & CEO of United Breweries, on Friday.  Beer maker United Breweries on Thursday reported an 18.87 per cent increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 127.19 crore for the third quarter ended December 2020. A sharp improvement in volumes and higher liquidity resulting from cost control, working capital management and recalibrated capex resulted in a net positive cash position of nearly Rs 100 crore.

Speaking in an interview to CNBC-TV18, Pardal said, "As we are seeing the lockdown ease off, taxes in some cases getting rationalized to pre-COVID levels, bars and other channels opening up, we have seen a natural progression of the business. Therefore, given where we are, given how we are seeing volumes recover and should there be no other extraneous factor, I am cautiously optimistic that we will continue our journey of progression."

On the growth front, Pardal said, "In terms of YoY, we are now up to 85 percent of last year in terms of volumes and we have been taking this opportunity to manage our cost, to look at how we can get better at the things that we are doing and both win share as well as expand our EBITDA more than we have seen our volumes recover. So, there is an intrinsic 16 bps expansion in our EBITDA. So for me it’s a natural progression plus some clear actions that we have been taking as a company."