Source : DNA INDIA NEWS
In a media statement issued on Wednesday (January 8, 2025) UBL highlighted the unviable nature of its operations due to stagnant base prices for its products over the past two years.
United Breweries Limited (UBL) has decided to stop supplying beer to the Telangana Beverages Corporation Limited (TGBCL) with immediate effect, which will result in the discontinuation of Kingfisher and Heineken beer in Telangana. The business attributed this action to severe operating losses and said it was a necessary step to preserve financial stability in the face of the State’s brewing industry’s mounting difficulties.
Following the notification of the immediate suspension of beer supplies to Telangana Beverages Corporation Ltd (TGBCL), shares of United Breweries Ltd, the business that makes Kingfisher beer, plummeted more than 7% on January 7.
In Telangana, TGBCL, a public sector organisation, has a monopoly on the wholesale and retail sale of alcoholic drinks and regulates the distribution of beer and Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). United Breweries stated that its decision was due to financial concerns. According to the corporation, TGBCL suffered large losses since failing to raise the base price of its beer in the 2019–20 fiscal year. Additionally, TGBCL has a sizable amount of past-due payments for earlier supply.
“This decision of the company has arisen because TGBCL has not revised the basic price of the company’s beer since 2019-20, resulting in huge losses in the State and significant overdues remaining unpaid by TGBCL for the past supply of beer by the company,” the beer maker said in a statement.
In a statement, United Breweries emphasised that the ongoing beer supply to TGBCL was “unviable” because of the outstanding payments and pricing issues.
Following the announcement, United Breweries’ stock fell as much as 7.4%, hitting an intraday low of Rs 1,920. The stock is now trading about 13% below its 52-week high of Rs 2,202.90, which was reached in September 2024. Despite the present fall, the stock has increased 16.6% from its 52-week low of Rs 1,645.80, which was reached in February 2024.
The prior year saw a greater than 11% gain in the stock. But in January 2025, it dropped more than 2%, undoing the gains from the two months before.
SOURCE : DNA NEW
