United Spirits Q4 results: Net profit plummets 81% to Rs 24 crore

The maker of McDowell's whiskey said underlying net sales declined 11.08% to Rs 6426.4 crore.

Bengaluru: United Spirits on Wednesday reported net profit decline of 81% at Rs 23.9 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, mainly due to Covid-19 led disruption intensified by ongoing consumption slowdown and inflation in raw material cost during the fiscal. A year ago, the country's largest liquor firm which is controlled by Diageo Plc, had posted net profit of Rs 126 crore during the same quarter.

The maker of McDowell's whiskey said underlying net sales declined 11.08% to Rs 6426.4 crore. Prestige & Above segment net sales declined 15.6%, disproportionately impacted by drying up of social occasions and closure of on-premise channel in several states even before the national lockdown went into effect. Popular segment net sales declined 11.4% overall but declined 5.4% in priority states.

“The business was severely impacted in the fourth quarter due to disruption caused by the outbreak of coronavirus in India. Net sales declined, led by a larger decline in the Prestige & Above segment, further impacting full year growth, which was already subdued due to the ongoing consumption slowdown during the fiscal,” said Anand Kripalu, CEO at USL, in a stock exchange filing.

“Overall, in this fiscal, we faced several external challenges, including the general election, broad based economic slowdown and the outbreak of coronavirus,” stated Kripalu, adding that the outlook for the next year remains uncertain amid the pandemic.