Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas (CCU) has reported a cybersecurity breach that has impacted its information technology systems in South America.

In an SEC filing yesterday (26 September), the Chile-headquartered drinks group said "an external agent" had gained access to its IT systems in its "sales and distribution areas" and leaked some of the company's data.

CCU said it only just become aware of the breach and was still evaluating the “content and scope” of the attack.

“As of this date, there is no information that allows us to project the financial effects on the assets, liabilities or results of CCU as a result of the matter reported as a material event, which, if they exist, will be promptly and duly reported to the Financial Market Commission and to the market in general,” CCU said in its filing on the incident.

The company added that it had contained the attack and was working with technicians on the stages of “containment, eradication and recovery”. CCU said its operations continued during the incident and that it expects its IT systems to be “fully normalised as soon as possible”.

CCU’s portfolio includes beers, soft drinks, hard seltzers, bottled waters, nectars, wines, pisco, rum and cider.

The company has operations in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its brands include Cristal beer, Vina Tarapaca wine and Watt's juices.

In August, CCU reported its second-quarter results. For the period ended 30 June, it posted a 12.7% drop in consolidated volumes compared to the same period a year ago, sinking to 6.01 million hectolitres.

Net sales fell 8.6% to 524.6bn pesos ($582.3m) while EBITDA fell 17.8% to 38.7bn pesos.

However, excluding the non-recurring gain from the sale of a portion of land in Chile, EBITDA stood at 10.05bn pesos, a 78.7% decrease.

Net income stood at a gain of 5.04bn pesos. Excluding the gain from the sale of land in Chile, net income was a loss of 15.89bn pesos, versus a loss of 3.9bn pesos last year.

Commenting on the results at the time, Chief executive Patricio Jottar said the group's "weaker" results "were heavily impacted by two effects; a particularly difficult context for demand in Chile and Argentina, and the depreciation of our main local currencies".