The liquor maker, partly owned by the Dutch brewer Heineken NV, said its standalone profit fell to 1.36 billion rupees ($16.5 million) in the quarter ended June 30 from 1.62 billion rupees a year earlier.

Total expenses rose 1.7%, outpacing a 0.9% increase in revenue to 52.41 billion rupees.

The margin on the earnings before interest and taxes contracted 95 basis points to 8%, the company said, adding that inflationary pressure is seen softening in the near term. The maker of Kingfisher beer also reported a 7.7% increase in excise duty.

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KEY CONTEXT

The brewer had in May flagged that margin pressures will persist in the first quarter amid sticky inflation.

It posted its first loss in 10 quarters in October-December, hit by slower revenue growth and rising costs.

Parent Heineken is expected to report its half-year results on July 31.

PEERS COMPARISON

Valuation (next 12 Estimates Analyst

months) (next 12 s'

months) sentime

nt

RIC PE EV/EBI Price Revenue profit Mean # of Stock to

TDA /Sale growth growth rating analyst price

s s target

United Breweries 65.80 39.62 NULL 11.29 53.99 HOLD 13 1.04

Ltd

United Spirits 59.89 37.71 NULL 7.57 24.87 HOLD 16 1.01

Ltd

Radico Khaitan 54.58 45.51 NULL 15.98 38.59 HOLD 7 1.17

Ltd

* The mean of analyst ratings standardised to a scale of Strong Buy, Buy, Hold, Sell, and Strong Sell

** The ratio of the stock's last close to analysts' mean price target; a ratio above 1 means the stock is trading above the PT

APRIL-JUNE STOCK PERFORMANCE

-- All data from Refinitiv

-- $1 = 82.1870 Indian rupees

($1 = 82.2230 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Yagnoseni Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)