The Hindu Business Line : UB, Scottish & Newcastle to launch new brands

Nearly a year into the tie-up, both United Breweries (UB) and Scottish & Newcastle are now looking at launching each other's top selling brands in India and abroad.

"We will bring in some of the well known brands of Scottish & Newcastle into India," the Executive Vice-President for sales & marketing of UB, Mr Shekhar Ramamurthy, told Business Line.

The brands include, Kronenbourg beer, a leading brand in France and the UK's second biggest selling premium lager, and Baltica and also Sagres, which is sold in Portugal.

Mr Ramamurthy said each of these brands have a niche market and hence will not eat into sales of other UB brands. UB's flagship, Kingfisher, too could be launched in foreign markets. "We are working on all these launches," he said.

Mr Ramamurthy, however, did not reveal how soon these brands will be launched in the respective markets.

He said the joint venture would continue to work on individual brand strategies. He said the customers in India are getting more discerning and want more choices than ever before. He said one of the biggest challenges lies in increasing the consumption of beer in India.

BEER SALES

He said currently, per capita consumption of beer in India was around 0.7 lt per annum. During 2005-06, about 105 million cases of beer was sold. Each case consists of 12 bottles of 650 ml. While the industry grew by 14 per cent last year, UB itself grew 19 per cent.

Mr Ramamurthy said the company has no capacity constraints as of now. "We usually plan for three to five years ahead and hence have enough capacity," he said. UB has over 50 per cent market share.

Its largest selling brand, Kingfisher commands a 35 per cent market share among all the beer brands in the country.

UB has set a target of adding 2 per cent market share every year.

UB and Scottish & Newcastle have 37.5 per cent stake each in the joint venture.