Craft beer maker Bira 91 has managed to touch Rs 820 crore in revenue in the fiscal year ending March 2023 but its growth remained sluggish as compared to FY22. The sale of beer comprised almost all its sales and income from this channel grew only 13% in FY23 which impacted its topline growth.
Bira 91’s revenue from operations increased only 14.6% to Rs 824 crore (inclusive of excise duty) in FY23 from Rs 719 crore in FY22, according to its consolidated financial statements filed with the Registrar of Companies.
Financial FY23
Operating Revenue
Total Expense
Profit / Loss
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For context, Bira 91 showed 66.8% growth in its revenue during FY22.
Founded in 2015, Peak XV Partners-backed Bira 91 makes various beer variants including Bira White, Gold, Bira Blonde, and Boom Super Strong among others. The company has also been experimenting with non-alcoholic beverages. It has a presence in 18 countries with around 31,000 outlets across 550 cities.
The sale of beer accounted for 98% of the total operating revenue which increased only 13% to Rs 807 crore, while the rest of income came from the sale of non-alcoholic products and scrap during FY23.
On the cost front, excise duty and related taxes were the largest cost center for Bira which formed 32% of its overall expenditure. This cost remained flat at Rs 413 crore in FY23. Its cost of materials for making beer and related items stood at Rs 239 crore in FY23.
Employee benefits, advertising, freight, and legal professional fees are some other opera ting expenses that pushed the company’s overall cost by 14.3% to Rs 1,282 crore in FY23 from Rs 1,122 crore in FY22. Check TheKredible for the full expense breakup chart.
Expense Breakdown
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- Cost of materials consumed
- Employee Benefits Expense
- Excise duty and taxes
- Advertising promotional expenses
- Freight cost
- Legal and professinal fees
- Others
Along with the slow-moving scale, losses increased by 12.4% to Rs 445 crore in FY23 from Rs 396 crore in FY22. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins stood at -71% and -26%. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.56 to earn a rupee in FY23.
FY22-FY23
| FY22 | FY23 |
| Expense/Rupee of ops revenue | ₹1.56 | ₹1.56 |
| ROCE | -150 | -71 |
| EBITDA Margin | -30% | -26% |
In March, Bira 91 raised $10 million from Japan’s largest bank MUFG Bank, four months after its $70 million Series D round, which was led by Japanese beer company Kirin Holdings Co. During these two rounds, the firm also converted itself into a public entity. However, it has no IPO plans in sight.
The company competes with ABInBev’s Haywards, United Breweries-owned Kingfisher, and Carlsberg’s Tuborg. Bira, with its positioning as a craft beer, has enjoyed a tremendous run, especially in terms of positive customer feedback and media coverage. The craft beer market too has enough head for growth yet, so one would expect that as manufacturing facilities expand as Bira has promised, sales too would catch up. There might be a case for the firm to seek greater success in India and focus energies here, as margins are unlikely to be much better outside the country due to higher competition.
