Anheuser-Busch pushing ahead

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the world’s largest brewer, announced on 5 February 2003 that fourth-quarter profit climbed amid a solid performance in the key U.S. market including sales of Michelob Ultra, its recently launched low-carbohydrate beer. The company said it earned US$269 million, or 32 cents per share, compared with US$228 million, or 26 cents, a year earlier. The result was in line with analysts’ expectations. St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch said sales for the quarter rose 7.1 percent to US$3.10 billion. Last month the company said its shipments of beer to U.S. wholesalers hit an all-time high in 2002, and reiterated its earnings growth estimates for 2002 and 2003.
At that time, Anheuser-Busch backed its prior estimate for earnings growth of 18.5 percent in the fourth quarter..

Did he run out of charms

In the end not even his long-term employers, Philip Morris’ Marlboro men, who are SABMiller’s largest shareholders, supported him: In January, after 28 years with Kraft Foods and Miller Brewing Co (which are both part of Philip Morris), John Bowlin took immediate leave as CEO of Miller Brewing Co. Last year, Bowlin, who joined Miller in 1999 to bring about a desperately needed turnaround, was allowed to smile on Philip Morris’ unexpected coup: the sale of Miller to South African Breweries for US$ 4.9 billion. However, at the end of 2002 signs of a turnaround were still nowhere in sight. In 2002, Miller registered another decline in beer output: minus 3 percent. That proved Bowlin’s downfall. The South African of Lebanese origins joined SAB in 1979. No small feat..

Grupo Modelo signs joint venture with John I. Haas, Inc.

Always keen to secure control over its supplies, Grupo Modelo has become a minority investor in John I. Haas’ Supercritical CO2 Extraction Plant in Yakima, Washington, USA. In January 2003, a new company called International CO2 Extraction, LLC., was created. As CO2 hop extract is a critical ingredient for Modelo’s beers, this investment will ensure that its growing extract needs will be met in the future, the brewer said in a statement.
Henry von Eichel, CEO of John I. Haas, Inc. was quoted as saying, that "We are very pleased with Grupo Modelo’s investment in this joint venture. It shows their long term commitment to the US hop industry and their confidence in our technical abilities. Haas, Inc., which will also operate the plant as it has since 1994, when the plant started up.
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Opening up Croatia

Simultaneously, Heineken has agreed with SBE (Southern Breweries Establishment, a joint venture of which CCU owns 50%), to acquire the controlling stake of 68.8 percent in the Croatian brewer Karlovacka Pivovara. The transaction is still subject to a number of conditions, including corporate and regulatory approvals. With a domestic market share of 19 percent and an annual beer volume of around 850,000 hectolitres, Karlovacka Pivovara is the number two brewer in Croatia, a market of 4.5 million people and 3.8 million hl of beer consumption in 2001. The brewery also exports to the region. Karlovacka Pivovara employs 670 people and is located in the city of Karlovacka near Zagreb, with Karlovacka as its main brand. CCU has three breweries and a total annual beer production of 3..

Tidying up Argentina

Further, Heineken will sell its 15 percent stake in Quilmes to the controlling shareholder BAC, whilst agreeing to settle all disputes and claims outstanding in the pending arbitration proceeding between Hein-eken and Quilmes.
This will lead to an extraordinary net profit of EUR 73 million for Heineken in 2003. The sale to BAC will be subject only to the closing of the transaction announced by Quilmes and AmBev in May 2002.
As part of this agreement Heineken will be able, at its option, to terminate the licensing agreement to produce the Hein-eken brand with Quilmes. Hein-eken intends to transfer this agreement to CCU as soon as practically possible. The deal will immediately contribute to the net profit of Heineken..

Sorting out Chile

Initially, Germany’s Schörg-huber held indirectly a 50 percent stake in IRSA, while Quiñenco owned the other 50 percent of IRSA, which has a controlling stake of 62 percent in the leading Chilean brewer CCU.
It has to be remembered that Anheuser-Busch owns another 19.8 percent of CCU. Now, with the consent of Quiñenco, Heineken will buy the 50 percent stake in IRSA that is currently held by Schörghuber. Heineken and Quiñenco will thus become partners in the joint venture IRSA. As part of this transaction, Heineken intends to transfer the licensing agreements to produce the Heineken brand in Chile and Argentina to CCU as soon as practically possible..

New order

In January Heineken announced that it would reinforce its South American Operations by acquiring Schörghuber’s 50 percent stake in IRSA, the company that controls the Chilean brewer Compañía de Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (CCU).
At the same time Heineken came to an agreement with the Argentinean brewer Quilmes that it would terminate the Heineken licensing agreement and that Heineken would sell its 15 percent stake in Quilmes. It was reported that the sale of the 15 percent stake in Quilmes would lead to an extraordinary net profit of EUR 73 million for Heineken in 2003.
Now that Heineken holds Schörghuber’s stake in IRSA, the Dutch brewer could also obtain the controlling stake in the Karlovacka brewery in Croatia from CCU..

Purchase cleared

The Brazilian authorities have finally given the green light to Canada’s brewer Molson and its takeover of the Kaiser beer company. Molson said in a statement that the competition authority considered "the transaction as beneficial to competition in the national beer market." The purchase of Kaiser for US$765 million made Molson the second-largest brewer in Brazil and the 13th in the world. In Canada, Molson produced 11.3 million hl beer in fiscal 2001. Irrespective of the bad news coming out of South America, central and south American beer sales will continue to rise in the medium term future, according to a new report by beverage industry analysts Canadean. The report claims that low per capita consumption levels provide scope for volume demand to rise by almost 20 percent by 2007..

Kiss good-bye

Milton Hershey would have been outraged - or perhaps not. In any case, we shall never know if the inventor of the famous chocolate sweet, Hershey Kisses, would have condoned plans by the Hershey Trust - a charitable trust the childless Milton set up in 1905 to fund a boarding school for the poor – to sell the Trust’s controlling stake in Hershey Foods, America’s largest chocolate maker.
After months of reviewing several bids, the board members gave in to protests from employees and others and dropped their plan to sell their stock valued at USD12.5 billion. The Trust has almost 60 percent of its USD5.4 billion of assets tied up in Hershey Foods’ shares.
For once, morals have won over profit..

Loosing it at the movies

Pauline Kael, the most distinguished American film critic, lost her illusions about movies at the movies. Coors’ executives have never had any illusions about the film industry or they would have thought twice about signing a deal with Miramax Films, a division of Walt Disney Co.
Miramax, the maker of Oscar-winning arthouse films such as "The English Patient" and "Shakespeare in Love" and Coors Brewing Co. announced a three-year marketing alliance which makes Coors a promotional partner in Miramax films. For an undisclosed sum, Coors will be the official sponsor of Miramax film premieres in the US. The deal also allows Coors to place its products in at least five Miramax films a year while Coors’ competitors will be kept out..