INDIA – The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Rishi Pardal, has tendered his resignation to United Breweries Limited, an Indian arm of Dutch multinational brewing company Heineken, on February 16, and accordingly, his six months notice period will commence.
Pardal has only had a three-year tenure. Previously, Pardal was the Vice-President and General Manager of Global Apparel Solutions at Avery Dennison, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Commenting on the news, Jacco van der Linden, President–Asia Pacific, Heineken, said: “With Rishi’s leadership, UBL has successfully navigated through Covid challenges and has made significant steps in integrating UBL into the Heineken Group while keeping a focus on the business. We are thankful for the leadership and experience Rishi has brought to the company.”
“During Rishi’s tenure, UBL has deepened the company’s bench of talented executives with a good mix of externally recruited and Heineken talented and experienced leaders. The executive team will continue to drive the business forward.”
The outgoing CEO Pardal noted that the past years have been important in the company’s evolution and added that UBL is well-positioned to shape the future of beer and beyond.
Heineken obtained control of UBL in India in July 2021, following an acquisition of a majority share of 61% in UBL. Since then, UBL has been on an integration journey into the Heineken Group.
Recently, The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) upheld the Rs 873-crore (approx. US$105.5 million) penalty imposed by the fair-trade regulator CCI (Competition Commission of India) on UBL and other beer makers.
The penalties imposed by CCI were on UBL, Carlsberg India, All India Brewers’ Association (AIBA), and 11 individuals for cartelization in the sale and supply of beer in India on 24 September last year.
The company reported a consolidated net loss of ₹1.81 crore in the third quarter ended December 2022 on account of the impairment of assets in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, besides higher expenses.
It had posted a consolidated net profit of ₹91.02 crore in the same quarter last fiscal, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Consolidated total income during the quarter under review stood at ₹3,713.54 crore as against ₹3,517.98 crore in the year-ago period.
In October 2022, the owner of the Kingfisher brand planned to infuse around ₹350 crore as capital expenditure in 2023 to meet the expected volume growth in the country, according to a top company official, as reported by an Indian media house, The Economic Times Industry.
The company has “good capex plans” in place for its breweries to meet anticipated volume growth going into 2023, said its Chief Financial Officer Radovan Sikorsky in its latest earning conference call.
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