SABMiller mum on Foster’s bid
On 21 July 2011 brewer SABMiller reported a rise in first-quarter beer volumes, thanks to continued growth in emerging markets, but kept media guessing if it will top up its bid for Australia’s Fosters.
SABMiller said that underlying beer and soft drink volumes grew 5 percent year-on-year.
Price rises also helped the group to push up revenues in its April-June first quarter by 7 percent.
The company said that the jump in volumes reflected growth in consumer spending in many developing markets, and a relatively weak comparative quarter in the prior year.
SABMiller’s bosses must have been glad to be able to report upwardly mobile first quarter figures because investor sentiment cannot be too good these days.
Analysts seem to believe that SABMiller has the umph to up its bid for Foster’s. But many will have started wondering if SABMiller has handled the bidding well. Launching a takeover bid is not merely about putting your money on the table – making a bid is all about psychology and timing.
That may be the reason why 16 percent of SABMiller’s shareholders at its Annual Meeting on 21 July 2011 voted against last year’s remuneration to company directors. Shareholders owning roughly 219 million shares voted against director pay, while owners of 1.2 billion shares were in favour of the pay resolutions.
This vote does not exactly represent a full blown shareholder revolt but it’s some kind of a warning to SABMiller’s top brass: several shareholders don’t think the company has handled their long-term interests well.
