Sri Lanka, July 16 -- Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC's newly disclosed move to begin brewing beer in Vietnam raises a question the company itself has not addressed directly: whether the shift is, at least in part, a hedge against Sri Lanka's own alcohol tax burden.
Lion paid Rs.1.46 billion to Carlsberg Vietnam Breweries Limited for contract brewing services in the financial year ended March 31, 2026, up from nil the previous year, according to the related party transaction disclosures in the company's newly released annual report. It marks the first indication that Lion has begun sourcing beer production outside Sri Lanka, an arrangement that does not appear to have been reported previously.
The disclosure sits in the notes to the financial ...