Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits Q1 net profit increases 13.76%

BANGALORE: Vijay Mallya-led United Spirits's net profit grew 13.76% year-on-year to Rs 137.71 crore in the first quarter, against Rs 121.05 crore in the comparable period on the back of strong sales growth.

Its net sales in the April to June quarter stood at Rs 1935.42 crore, up 32.29% from Rs 1462.95. The company said its financial figures for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 is not comparable to the same period last year because it also reflects the merger of Balaji Distilleries Limited.

The company's board on Wednesday recommended dividend of Rs 2.50 per share including for 5,200,639 equity shares of Rs 10 each allotted to the shareholders of Balaji Distilleries on January 14, 2011 consequent to the merger with the Company.

In the quarter under consideration, United Spirits acquired direct control over the Karnataka-based Sovereign Distilleries. It snapped up 41.54% stake in April to increase its in-house distillation capacity and acquired an additional 19.99% stake in July.

As a result Sovereign Distilleries became a subsidiary of United Spirits.

Maharashtra-based Pioneer Distilleries also became a subsidiary of the company in the first quarter.

Untied Spirits' stock fell 0.82% to Rs 983.05 on Wednesday. The company's quarterly results were announced after market hours.