The Hindu Business Line : UB bid to expand global beer business

UNITED Breweries Ltd (UBL), the company that has Kingfisher as its flagship brand, looks set to establish an alliance in Australia towards having a production capacity to support UBL's global beer business.

Mr K. Ganguly, Managing Director-UBL and UB Group's President-Breweries Division, told select media that UBL is set to enter into a contact manufacturing alliance in Australia, since Australia and New Zealand markets showed strong growth. He said that the UB team was going to Australia in the forthcoming week to firm up the deal. Given all the necessary clearances, he expected production to commence by April this year.

The Rs 400-odd-crore UBL supports its beer business in Europe and the US through its facilities in the UK and the US. However, other global markets are serviced from India, he said. Exports account for about 5 per cent of UBL's total revenues, he added.

Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the company has seen a growth of about 7 per cent, as compared with industry figures of 4 per cent, he said. The domestic beer market has seen consolidation and this has brought in some stability, he said. Meanwhile, he pointed out that glass prices have escalated and this would affect the bottomlines of liquor companies by about Rs 11 to Rs 13 per dozen. To tackle this situation, he said that all players in the segment had created a pool to procure bottles and utilise them as per requirement.