If you thought, the brewing industry was abuzz with rumours about sales and takeovers, you don’t know the drinks industry. Last month the London papers reported that a US private equity house has shown more than just an interest in Allied Domecq, nicknamed the perpetual bridemaid of the spirits sector. City sources belief that the possible bidder is investment company Texas Pacific, which bought the Burger King business from Diageo in a protracted bid.
Although the news is only speculation at this stage, it makes sense. After all, Texas Pacific might need to diversify some of the operational risk associated with the Burger King fast food business by adding Allied’s fast food operations Baskin Robbins and Dunkin’ Donuts to its stables. First baby steps? Indeed..

Duopolies make for a happy couple and lots of unhappy bystanders. The same could be said about Canada’s beer market. With Labatt and Molson accounting for nearly 90% of all beer sales, Quebec’s microbrewers have felt for years that they are being squeezed out of the market by their big competitors.
That is why they filed a complaint with the federal Competition Bureau arguing that the big beer boys were pinching them out of the market by hogging the best shelf space in shops and signing exclusivity contracts with pubs, restaurants and clubs.
The agency however dismissed their complaint. Moreover, Labatt denied that it was doing anything wrong.
Some of the microbrewers are not sure it’s time yet to sit down and talk. They hold about 4..

Guatemala City is the site where the 4th Technical Congress of Alaface taks place. From 6th to 10th May 2003 this city will host over 300 technical managers from all the Latin-American breweries, maltings and from the allied industry. This article presents the city and the country and, last but not least, its brewing history and current activities.

Guatemala (officially the Republic of Guatemala), the northernmost of the Central American countries, attracts visitors with its natural riches and its culture, from its exquisite manual arts to the imposing ruins at Tikal and the beauty of the jungle at El Petén. The Spanish heritage is reflected in its colonial monuments and remnants of the Mayan culture still remain visible.3 %;
- Inflation: 6.
....

The U.S. craft beer industry continued its production growth in 2002 with an increase of 3.4 percent, according to figures gathered by the Association of Brewers, Boulder Colorado. In 2002, the craft beer industry produced more than 6.4 million barrels of craft beer in the United States. This 3.4 percent growth from 2001 means the net volume increase for 2002 was 216,688 barrels. This is the equivalent to craft beer industry annual retail sales value for 2002 to more than $3.8 billion. The Association of Brewers reports 1409 craft breweries in the United States in 2002: 994 brewpubs, 369 microbreweries and 46 regional specialty breweries.

Harsh weather, excess inventory and the general sentiment seem to have had a dampening effect on beer sales in the first quarter 2003. Coors’ wholesalers entered the quarter with 200,000 barrels of excess inventory in anticipation of the Super Bowl; however, difficult winter weather in the Northeast and overall sluggishness in the U.S. beer industry negatively impacted consumer takeaway. The analysts revised their first-quarter U.S. volume shipment forecast for Coors to a decline of 1 percent to 2 percent from a previous expectation of flat volume. For Anheuser-Busch, they trimmed their volume shipment forecast to flat, down from an earlier target of 0.7 percent growth.

In a regulatory filing submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission in March, Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the world’s number 1 brewer, announced that it cut its chairman’s salary and bonus when he left the chief executive officer post last year, and rewarded its new chief executive with a pay rise. Chairman August A. Busch III, 65, was paid a salary of US$900,000 in 2002, which included a new salary level after handing over the CEO position to Patrick Stokes, 60, in July 2002. Busch’s salary was almost US$1.2 million the year before and his bonus dropped to US$2.7 million in 2002 from US$3.3 million the year before. In the filing Anheuser-Busch reported that August Busch III also received options for 1 million shares, down from options for more than 1.08 million shares he got in 2001.

Breweries in Alaska? In fact, there are 12 breweries and brewpubs operating in the state, which sports 626,000 inhabitants, 10,000 cattle and 800 hogs. Not that the latter two would drink beer. But anyway. The largest brewery of the state, Alaskan Brewing Company (production: 90,000 hl), which has been brewing award-winning beers since 1986, released its limited edition Alaskan Smoked Porter in England in March. The success of Alaskan Smoked Porter at international competitions and persistent inquiries from England, led to the distribution agreement. Alaskan Smoked Porter showcases alder smoked malt in a rich strong porter.
Although originated in England, porters were brewed in Juneau, Alaska, during the 1880 gold rush..

During its financial year 2002, ending 31 December 2002, Mexico’s leading brewer Grupo Modelo increased its net sales to 36 billion Mexican pesos (+6.6%) as a result of a 3.6 percent and 13.5 percent growth in domestic and export sales, respectively. Total net revenues from export sales climbed to 908 million dollars, a 15.3 percent increase over 2001. The average price per hectoliter for the export market showed an increase of 3.6 percent in dollar terms compared to 2001. Export sales contributed 24.9 percent to net sales, domestic sales 66.4 percent. Operating income stood at 9.4 billion pesos, EBITDA at 10.9 billion or 30.2 percent of total sales.
Total beer shipments came to a new record level of 39.9 million hl (+3.9%), said Grupo Modelo in a statement.3 percent.S.
(table).

Sorry, but we don’t know any partiers. We only know Cartier. Small wonder that Labatt had to pull out of its online venture beer.com and sell its stake to an upstart Canadian online retailer for an undisclosed sum. Apparently, Labatt too had trouble finding partiers with an interest in "beer, sex, music, fun and beer girls" to make the venture worth the investment.
The site, which was set up in 1999 by Interbrew/Labatt and a host of partners, was aimed at 19 to 35 year old "partiers" and tried to integrate the solitary activity of surfing the net with the social activity of drinking. Does it take anybody by surprise that the site never lived up to its ideal despite its claims to the contrary? Labatt has not shelved the beer.com site altogether..

Do Canadians drink Canadian beer brands? Err, not necessarily. Although the domestic brand Molson Canadian is in a close race for top selling beer with Budweiser (brewed under licence by Labatt), another US brand Coors Light ranks third.
To a Canadian brewer this scenario must appear worrisome. Especially, if his brands seem to be lagging. According to reports, the country’s largest brewer, Molson, saw its market share fall 1.1 percentage points to 43.9 percent in 2002, mainly because of the decline of Molson Canadian. That’s why the brewer intends to pay more attention to its core brands from now on. After all, they still represent the most profitable part of its brand portfolio.
This spring and summer Molson will launch advertising which celebrates Molson Export’s centennial..

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