Varun Beverages Q1 PAT rises 25% to Rs 547.98 cr

New Delhi: Varun Beverages Ltd, a franchise partner of PepsiCo, on Monday reported a 25 per cent rise in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 547.98 crore in the first quarter ended March 2024.

The company, which follows a calendar year (January-December) of reporting, had posted consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 438.57 crore in the same quarter last year, Varun Beverages said in a regulatory filing.

Consolidated revenue from operations in the first quarter stood at Rs 4,397.98 crore as against Rs 3,952.59 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Total expenses were higher in the quarter at Rs 3,609.76 crore compared to Rs 3,329.7 crore in the year-ago period.

Varun Beverages Chairman Ravi Jaipuria said despite a delay in the Holi festival by 17 days resulting in a delayed seasonality cycle, the company had a reasonably strong overall operational and financial performance in the first quarter of the year.

"We achieved a consolidated sales revenue growth of 10.9 per cent with a break up of volume growth of 7.2 per cent and net realisation per case growth of 3.5 per cent in Q1, reflecting an improved product mix in India and higher contributions from international markets," he added.

Consolidated sales volume grew by 7.2 per cent to 240.2 million cases in Q1 CY2024 from 224.1 million cases in Q1 CY2023, the company said.

For the calendar year 2024 season, the company has commissioned three greenfield production facilities -- Supa in Maharashtra on January 25, 2024; Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh on April 13, 2024, and Khordha in Odisha on April 30, 2024, -- with an overall capex outlay of Rs 2,800 crore, it added.

The company's board has approved the incorporation of a wholly-owned subsidiary company in Zimbabwe to carry out the business of food products, the filing added.