Diageo India is among the country’s leading beverage alcohol companies with an outstanding collection of premium brands.
Bengaluru, India - January 24, 2023: United Spirits Ltd., India’s leading beverage alcohol company, reported its unaudited standalone results for the third quarter and nine months ended 31 December 2022.
Key Highlights for the quarter:
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Reported net sales value (NSV) at INR 2,781 Cr, with P&A saliency of 86%
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Like for Like (LFL) NSV grew 9.7% with P&A NSV growth of 11.7%
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Reported EBITDA at INR368 Cr. with EBITDA margin of 13.2%
Ms. Hina Nagarajan, Managing Director & CEO, commenting on the Q3FY23 performance, said:
"We delivered a good quarter in an extremely volatile environment carefully navigating through Route to Market changes & input commodity cost inflation. This is the first quarter post the slump sale and franchising of the strategically reviewed popular portfolio. During the quarter, we have completed the merger of Pioneer Distilleries Limited to progress towards a simplified legal entity footprint.
I am also happy to announce that the Board of Directors have approved a multi-year supply chain agility programme. The programme is expected to strengthen our end-to-end supply chain thereby making it fit for the future. This is in addition to our everyday efficiency savings as we continue to build a more agile and sustainable business.
Looking ahead, in the shorter term, we do expect inflationary headwinds to continue. However, we remain optimistic about the medium to longer term business prospects & our ability to harness growth opportunities with sharpened focus and our reshaped portfolio. We remain confident in our strategy to create an organization of the future and thereby deliver value to all our stakeholders in a sustainable and consistent manner."
(The scheme for the Pioneer Distilleries Limited merger came into operation on 30th December 2022 but is effective 1st April’2021. All current & previous period comparators include the impact of the merger. All accounts referred as ‘Rebased’ are Reinstated for PDL merger as well as adjusted for slump sale and franchising of the strategically reviewed popular portfolio for a like for like comparison.)
Q3FY23 performance highlights:
- Rebased NSV increased 9.7% & underlying NSV grew 11.5% (excluding the one-off Bulk Scotch sale impact from prior year comparator) reflecting another good quarter driven by off-trade momentum & continued recovery of the On-trade.
- Prestige & Above segment net sales grew 11.7% with strong double-digit growth in our scotch portfolio.
- Rebased net sales for popular segment grew 2.3%.
- Gross margin at 40.6%, down 438bps versus last year, driven by input cost inflation both for Glass & ENA partly offset by superior mix and productivity.
- A&P re-investment rate was 10.0% of sales. We continue to invest in our brands & are focussed on improving consumer penetration and engagement.
- EBITDA at INR368 Cr., with reported EBITDA margin at 13.2% is down 332bps, primarily driven by inflation led gross margin contraction partly off-set by targeted A&P calibration.
- Exceptional charge of INR 151 Cr. is primarily on account of the supply agility program.
- Interest costs of INR24 Cr. is on account of the customary non-debt related items and partially related to the debt of the merged entity.
- Profit after tax was INR111 Cr. with net profit margin at 4.0% on account of the exceptional charge in the quarter
9MFY23 performance highlights:
- Rebased net sales registered a growth of 20.9% on the back of strong premiumisation trend, continued momentum in off-trade, on premise recovery, sustained home consumption trends and favourable prior year comparatives Within the above, Prestige & Above segment grew 22.7%.
- Rebased net sales for Popular segment grew 2.3%.
- Gross margin at 41.0%, down 453 bps versus last year, weighed down by glass & ENA inflation, partly offset by favourable mix and productivity.
- Rebased EBITDA was INR 967 Cr., up 8.4%. EBITDA margin at 13.5% is down 156 bps, primarily due to gross margin contraction.
- Reported interest cost at INR68 Cr. is down 25% after excluding the one-off reversal benefit from the previous year comparator. Interest is on account of the customary non-debt related items and partially related to the debt of the merged entity.
About Diageo India
Diageo India is the country’s leading beverage alcohol company and a subsidiary of global leader Diageo Plc. The company manufactures, sells and distributes an outstanding portfolio of premium brands such as Johnnie Walker, Black Dog, Black & White, VAT 69, Antiquity, Signature, The Singleton, Royal Challenge, McDowell’s No1, Smirnoff, Ketel One, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan and Godawan, an artisanal single malt whisky from India. Headquartered in Bengaluru, our wide footprint is supported by a committed team of over 3000 employees, 39 manufacturing facilities across states and union territories in India, a strong distribution network and a state-of-the-art Technical Centre. Incorporated in India as United Spirits Limited (USL), the company is listed on both the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) in India. For more information about Diageo India, our people, our brands, and our performance, visit us at www.diageoindia.com. Visit Diageo’s global responsible drinking resource, http://www.DRINKiQ.com, for information, initiatives, and ways to share best practices.