India's Sula Vineyards posts higher Q3 profit on strong premium wine demand

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Sula Vineyards, India's biggest wine manufacturer, reported a more than 9% rise in third-quarter profit on Tuesday, helped by increased demand for its premium brands and wine tourism business.

The Mumbai-headquartered company said its consolidated net profit rose to 429.8 million rupees ($5.2 million) from 392.8 million rupees year ago.

Its wine segment, which houses premium brands such as Dindori and Rasa, reported a nearly 4% rise in revenue during the quarter. This is Sula's biggest segment and accounts for 89% of the topline.

Its smaller wine tourism segment, logged an 16% rise in revenue as more people visited the company's vineyards, located in the cities of Nashik and Bengaluru, especially over the long Christmas weekend.

Total revenue rose 4% to 2.18 billion rupees, the company said.

Its margins on earning before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) expanded to 33.7% from 31% a year ago.

Additionally, Sula declared an interim divided of 4 rupees per share for the financial year 2024.

Shares of Sula, which rose over 7% during the December quarter, closed up nearly 5% ahead of the results.

($1 = 82.9898 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)