Allied Blenders and Distillers (ABD), best known for its Officer’s Choice liquor brand, is counting on its premium portfolio, as its eyes mid-double-digit value growth in revenue in the ongoing fiscal (FY26), MD Alok Gupta said in a conversation with FE.
The second half of FY26 will see the company launch three new high-end brands including two whiskeys and one white spirit, he said, taking its premium portfolio to nine brands. In the September quarter, ABD’s prestige and above (P&A) segment, which includes its premium brands, contributed 47% to sales in terms of volume. The rest (53%) comes from the mass segment, led by Officer’s Choice.
The company reported a 35.4% year-on-year increase in net profit to Rs 64.3 crore in Q2, while revenue from operations grew 14% year-on-year to Rs 990 crore and Ebitda rose 22.3% year-on-year to Rs 126 crore in Q2. Ebitda margins improved to 6.4% in Q2 from 5% reported last yearr.
“In the next 12-18 months, we see the P&A segment crossing 50% in terms of volume. That will be a significant milestone for us. It also comes as consumers are increasingly looking to drink better,” Gupta said. Some of ABD’s high-end brands include Arthaus scotch, Zoya and Pumori gin and Woodburns whiskey.
In the last two years, the company has aggressively pursued a premiumisation strategy, beefing up its luxury portfolio; setting up a subsidiary for its high-end brands called ABD Maestro, and now, expanding the latter’s presence in duty-free travel retail.
In the September quarter, ABD Maestro launched its products at the Bengaluru and Delhi International Airports. The subsidiary is expected to tap the Mumbai International Airport in the future, as it eyes a presence across the country’s busiest and key travel gateways.
The company has also recently inaugurated its new PET bottle manufacturing facility at its integrated plant in Rangapur, Telangana at an investment of Rs 115 crore. This, along with an investment of Rs 75 crore in its upcoming single-malt distillery, as well as an additional amount of Rs 337 crore to increase capacity at its Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) unit in Maharashtra, will take total capital expenditure of the company to Rs 527 crore in FY26.
The capex programme, Gupta says, is expected to enhance operational efficiency and improve gross margins by 300 basis points by FY28. The PET bottle manufacturing unit, for instance, will help the company meet 70-75% of its captive requirements. It will also lower logistics costs and improve supply-chain efficiencies, he said.