A non-Busch...for now!

Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. ended a long family tradition when it named its first chief executive in 142 years who is neither an Anheuser nor a Busch. The producer of top-selling beers such as Budweiser and Bud Light appointed Patrick Stokes, 59, currently in charge of the company’s U.S. beer business, its largest operation, to become president and chief executive on 1 July 2002. He will succeed August Busch III, who will remain as chairman and who turns 65 in June. His son, August Busch IV, 38, who had also been tipped as his successor, will take over from Stokes as head of the US beer unit.
The company reported a 16 per cent rise in first-quarter profits, boosted by higher prices and sales of its new Bacardi Silver flavoured malt drink.
Domestic beer volume rose 1.4 percent to 24.

SAB buys Miller for $5.6 bn ...

... and becomes the world’s second largest brewer. So the full headline should have read. The long wait is over. What pundits have known for weeks, has finally been confirmed. At the end of May Miller’s parent company, cigarette-maker Philip Morris Cos. or Altrai as the company is called these days, agreed to sell its brewing operation for US$5.6 billion.
This is the first time, the self-professed emerging markets specialist SAB has bought into a First World market. While SAB has spent US$2 billion in the past two years on takeovers that have increased its sales by 20 per cent, the company’s expansion was in countries such as Poland, India, China and Honduras where beer consumption has been on the increase.5 times EV/EBITDA. In the end, SAB paid US$600 million more.0x.6 per cent....

Premium beer sales settle down but do not fall flat

Premium and superpremium beers will continue to thrive, although there is likely to be a levelling off of the growth in demand for them, particularly in developed markets. A new report, The International Market for Premium Beer, from beverage industry analysts Canadean shows that while the global beer market grew by an average of 2 per cent per annum between 1996 and 2000, premium beer sales rose by nearly 4 per cent and superpremium sales by 8 per cent. In line with this performance the report predicts that despite slowing down, both premium and superpremium brands will still do well, with the latter being less susceptible to downward pricing pressures as consumers automatically expect to pay more for them. This was split 10 per cent premium and 5 per cent superpremium..

All you have always wanted ...

... is to have a case of beer delivered to your doorstep with the label sporting a photograph of yours truly in her birthday suit. Well, it can be done. But there is a catch. You have to live in Ontario, Canada. And, sorry, you cannot have that photograph of her mooning everybody. Canada’s brewer Labatt will not accept any pictures which depict nudity, minors or motor vehicles. Labatt will personalise a case of 24 bottles of Labatt Blue or Labatt Blue Light with your favourite photograph of birthdays, weddings, graduations and stags and deliver it in Ontario within seven business days. The vanity label campaign has been running since March 2002 to great acclaim. However, the vanity brewskies won’t come cheap. A case will set you back C$45.95 plus postage and handling.75. beer..

Molson reports 82% increase in profits

Molson lnc.’s fourth-quarter profit rose 82 per cent because of lower costs, higher beer sales and a change in accounting practices. Net income in the period ended 31 March 2002 rose to C$33.6 million (US$21.5 million), or 27 cents a share, from the year-earlier C$18.5 million, or 15 cents. Sales rose 12 per cent to C$619 million from C$552 million.
Molson’s Canadian sales were up 1.5 per cent, slightly higher than the national industry average of 1.4 per cent. The brewer increased its share of the market by 0.1 percentage point to 45.3 per cent, following a 0.2 point gain in the third quarter. In the U.S., sales climbed 1.3 per cent..

When less is more

Last year, Brazil’s leading brewer Ambev saw beer sales go down but beer revenues go up. Although in volume it sold 0.4 per cent less beer in 2001, its net revenues rose 24.3 per cent to R$6.5 billion (US$2.77 billion). This result has to be credited to higher beer prices. According to A/C Nielsen, the brands Brahma, Skol and Antarctica had price increases between 14 per cent and 17 per cent last year. With a market share of more than 70 per cent, it is no problem for AmBev to lift beer prices above the rate of inflation - 7.3 per cent according to the São Paulo University Financial Institute IPC index. Beer represents more than 70 per cent of AmBev’s revenues. In 2001 beer venues were R$4.8 billion (US$2.04 billion). Its softdinks division improved results by 13.9 per cent..

Cost cutting 2

Molson reported its profit expectations for 2002 which it believes to grow 20 per cent before interest and taxes thanks to a programme of cost reductions at its Brazilian operations Kaiser. In March, Molson had paid US$765 million for Brazil’s second largest brewer Kaiser. Molson expects 27 per cent of the annual C$66 million gain to come from increased revenue, 22 per cent from procurement synergies, 20 per cent from a better use of capacity, 16 per cent from improved logistics and 15 per cent from workforce re-organisation. The project is to run over the next three years.

Ready ... steady ...go

Is this the first step towards ... well, you know ... because Argentina’s major brewer Quinsa (11.5 million hl beer) has agreed to sell a 36 per cent voting stake to Brazil’s No 1 brewer AmBev in return for Quinsa’s assistance in distribution operations in several Latin American countries. Quinsa, a Luxembourg-based holding and owner of Argentina’s No 1 beer brand Quilmes, reported that it would take over AmBev’s operations in Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay in exchange for 26.4 million new class B shares to be issued by Quinsa. AmBev will distribute Quilmes in Brazil and will purchase 230.9 million class A Quinsa shares for $346.4 million for a 36.09 per cent share of the voting rights and 37.5 per cent of the economic interest in Quinsa.

Buffalo Bill does it again

At his age, other will seriously consider retirement. Not Bill Owens, American photographer, brewer and publisher extraordinaire. When In 1983 he opened Buffalo Bill’s Brewery, his was the first brewpub in the nation. Three years later he bought a small magazine, "Home Fermenter’s Digest", merged it with "Amateur Brewer" and renamed it "American Brewer". Years later he received a phone call and was told there was another publication which used the same title, "American Brewer". Bill told the caller that this had to be a mistake as he owned the trademark. Indeed, the original "American Brewer" was published for 108 years, from 1850 until 1958.
When he bid farewell to his loyal readers last year, Bill had published more than 90 issues of "American Brewer" over the course of 17 years.

August Busch III sold US$3 million in stock

Looks like he is diversifying a bit. Or he must have been reading about the Enron 401-k plan problems! Because Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc.’s Chairman August Busch recently sold $3 million in shares of the nation’s No. 1 beer maker, and he plans to sell $3.7 million more, according to a regulatory filing. Busch sold 25,700 common shares worth $1.2 million on 11 February, then sold 37,000 shares 10 days later valued at $1.8 million, said the filing, which was publicly released by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It also showed that he plans to sell an addi-tional 74,860 shares worth $3.7 million. Busch beneficially held more than 7 million shares of Anheuser-Busch, according to the company’s most recent proxy in March 2001.