The fiesta is over
Upon announcement of the anti-flu measures in Mexico City, Grupo Modelo’s stock fell the most in six months. It declined 8.9 percent, while Fomento Economico Mexicano SAB (FEMSA), Latin America’s largest beverage company, also slumped, dropping 4 percent. The decline in Femsa, the maker of Dos Equis beer, was the biggest since 7 April 2009.
It is highly likely that the brewers’ stocks will recover eventually. Other businesses will not be so lucky. A leading business group estimated that cancelled events and closure of movie theatres, night clubs, museums and other establishments to prevent the spread of swine flu are costing Mexico City at least 777 million pesos (USD 57 million) a day.
Arturo Mendicuti, president of the city’s Chamber of Trade, Services and Tourism, was reported as saying that the figure represents a 36-percent drop in revenue generated by tourism and services in the Mexican capital.
However, the estimate was made before the city government expanded the shutdown to include restaurants, which now are only allowed to serve takeout.
On 6 May, it was reported that Mexico City’s restaurants were allowed to re-open for sit-down service after the swine flu worries seem to have abated.
