Thank heavens for the Football World Cup

In South Africa, where SABMiller has some 90 percent of the market, the company has said it sold an extra 130,000 hl beer during the World Cup. However, volumes in South Africa are below expectations and the country has become an area of concern for the company. After an 8 percent rise in volumes in the previous quarter, to post a flat volume performance in the latest quarter, despite the benefits of the soccer World Cup, is surprising, to say the least. Could it be that beer is losing out to spirits, or is SAB relinquishing market share to Diageo’s and Heineken’s joint venture?

It did not help that lager volumes in Colombia, where SABMiller earns most of its profits, slumped 6 percent because of an excise duty hike on beer, which pushed up prices, poor weather and five dry days around presidential elections.

Volumes in Europe, mostly in central and eastern Europe, fell 9 percent, due to generally poor economic conditions, heavy rain falls and flooding. Besides, nine days of national mourning in Poland over the death of the president in a plane crash limited lager sales.

In the United States, sales to retailers fell 2.4 percent in the quarter, depressed by economic concerns, particularly among the core younger drinkers.

The good note is that growth was strong in the rest of Africa and Asia. In Africa, volumes grew 7 percent, with strong performances in Mozambique and Uganda offsetting declines in Tanzania. In Asia, volumes were up 4 percent, with India reporting significant growth and China being broadly in line with last year, SABMiller reported.

Its rivals AB-InBev, Heineken and Carlsberg report first-half results this month.