The Hindu Business Line : UB `rationalises' brand portfolio

United Breweries (UB) has rationalised its brand portfolio pulling out a few brands from certain markets and at the same time repositioning a few others.

"We found out that there were a few brands which were cannibalising the others' market. Hence we have rationalised some of these brands," the Chief Financial Officer, Ms Lesley Jackson, told Business Line.

For example, Sandpiper was pulled out of certain markets while the brand was retained in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. In the case of Zingaro too, the brand was "strategically'' withdrawn from a few markets and at the same time its presence was strengthened in a few others where it had a larger market share. "We have rationalised the brands on a state-to-state basis," Ms Jackson said.

UB has two major brands, Kingfisher and Kingfisher Strong in its portfolio while two others are multi-state: Zingaro and Sandpiper. There are also over a dozen brands which are region-specific. The company is also driving better synergies on the manufacturing front to ensure that the quality of beer is consistent in all the markets.

Growth volumes

UB's volumes have grown 21 per cent in the third quarter and 22 per cent year to date (April-December 2005) while the industry has grown 14 per cent in the same period.

The company's growth in the mild segment, in which Kingfisher is a leader, was around 13 per cent year to date (April-December) while the industry grew nearly 10 per cent. Kingfisher Strong's growth was higher bynearly 40 per cent.

The other strong beer brands of UB increased 60 per cent compared to 16 per cent growth posted by the industry. The company's share is about 50 per cent of the total market.

For the third quarter, the company posted a 500 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 9.24 crore while its total income grew 22 per cent to Rs 122.71 crore.