AB-InBev accused of gussying up sales figures

The German AB-InBev spokesperson did not want to comment on reports made by Inside publication that since November 2009 AB-InBev has tried to tempt wholesalers into stocking up on beer through too-good-to-be-true discounts on its major brands.

Inside also wrote that left-over seasonal beers have been given away for almost nothing so that these figures did not enter the brewer’s “down-the-gutter“ statistics but qualified as proper sales.

In Bavaria, a logistics company has even rented a warehouse, says Inside, to store 100,000 crates (or 10,000 hl) of Franziskaner and Beck’s beers.

Allegedly, AB-InBev has agreed to cover all external costs for renting warehouses and to replace beers whose sell-by-date is to expire soon with newer products at no cost to the wholesaler.

In effect, through means fair or foul, AB-InBev has managed to gussy up 2009 sales figures by 2 percent, claims Inside.