Never say never

So it was only a rumour that Argentina’s Quilmes brewery would be sold to or merge with Brazilian beverage group AmBev. Quilmes refuted this rumour which has been going round Latin America and even denied that any contacts existed between the two beverage groups. But we have heard this one before and shall keep our ear on the ground.

The End of the American Dream Schlitz, Stroh, Heileman and Pabst or the disappearance of the regional US brewers

"Schlitz is gone, Stroh is gone ... and I am not feeling too well myself." This is how Pabst might be thinking these days. Greedy shareholders, sly lawyers, unscrupulous entrepreneurs: The decline of the regional US brewers has had several protagonists, few winners and one big loser - the city of Milwaukee, whose downtown today resembles a memorial to the brewing industry.

During the second half of the 20th century, three brewers made Milwaukee famous: Schlitz, Pabst and Miller. Among those big wig brewers - we are talking hectolitre millionaires after all - Pabst was the oldest. The brewery was founded in 1844. That was even before Milwaukee became a city. The Miller brewery started production four years later in 1848, Schlitz in 1849 and Blatz in 1851. But to a large part....

Mendocino Brewing Company acquires United Breweries International (UK) Limited

Mendocino Brewing Company, Ukiah, CA/USA, announced Mid of August that it has acquired United Breweries International (UK) Limited, (UBSN) a British corporation, along with its wholly-owned operating subsidiary UBSN Ltd. in exchange for 5,500,000 shares of Mendocino’s common stock.
UBSN was formed in August of 1989 and is the sole distributor of Kingfisher Premium Lager Beer (“Kingfisher”) in the U.K., Ireland, Continental Europe, the United States and Canada. The business is reported to be profitable with revenues for the year ending December 31, 2000 of 12,643,600 USD and Net Income for the same period of $ 411,900 USD. The Kingfisher brand is sold primarily to Indian restaurants.
Kingfisher is an international brand currently distributed in over 40 countries..

August A. Busch IV honoured as International Advertiser of the Year

In June, August A. Busch IV, was honoured as the "Advertiser of the Year" at the 48th annual International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France. The International Advertising Festival - Cannes Lions - is to marketing professionals and admen what the Cannes Film Festival is to members of the fantasy industry. Despite the usual bickering and sneering (presumably by those who could not take home any of the coveted Kings of the Savannah) that there are campaigns which appeal to the jury and others which appeal to the consumer, the award is considered the most prestigious international honour in the advertising industry.
Over the past few years, Busch has become quite a regular face at Cannes.
Busch is the second representative of breing industry to receive the award.S.S..

Altered names

Finally the Genesee Brewing Co. from Rochester, New York, finished their management buy-out. Eight former employees acquired the brewery at a price of USD 25.8 million, USD 14.8 million of which in cash. Although the new enterprise will sign as High Falls Brewing Company the Genesee brand is not intended to disappear from the market. The brand will be shown on every label, except from those of the new beer specialities. These will enter the market under the brand name High Falls.
The Pabst Brewing Co. had offered to acquire some of the Genesee beer brands in order to have them brewed somewhere else but that would have implied the closing of the Genesee brewery and the loss of 450 jobs. The new owners already announced to spend USD 3.9 million hectolitres and sales of USD 103.3 million.

Miller opens Valley Brewery

Miller Brewing Co. reported that the work at the pilot brewery (worth: USD 4 million) incl. bottling hall of the Technical Centres, Milwaukee, USA, has been finished. The Miller Valley Brewery - that’s the name of this pilot brewery - has been conceived for batches up to 12 hectolitres. As Miller reported, now they are better able to force the product development. Might it be possible that the opening of the Miller Valley Brewery has a connection with the decision of the group to get rid of shares of some microbrewers from the USA? In december Miller reported that they had decided to sell the Selis brewery, Texas, and the brand Celis. If this works Miller only holds the brands Leinen-kugel and Henry Weinhard, generally known as microbrewers. They didn’t name an amount..

"El Niño" and "El Niña"

In Colombia the beverage production is concentrated upon some few enterprise groups. According to informations from the statistics board DANE for 1999 the Colombian beverage industry consisted of 165 enterprises. Altogether they produced beverages at a value of COP 3,378.1bn and invested COP 10.9 billion (average exchange in 2000: USD 1 = COP 2,087). According to DANE the output of the Colombian beverage industry decreased by 2.6% in 2000, after a reduction of 13% in 1999. Once again, the number of jobs shrank rather significantly.
In 1999 the sales of beer and soft drinks had been impacted by the general economic condition and by climatic influences. It is here where among others the "El Niño Southern Oscillation" (ENSO) has to be set out.3 million to USD 20.6 million (fob).5bn).5b)..

Out of Africa

In an effort to reduce dependency on earnings from its African subsidiaries, South African Breweries seems to have thrown desiring glances across the Atlantic. According to a rumour published in the British Sunday Times of 12 August, SAB is in talks to buy Kaiser, Brazil’s second largest brewer with a market share of 13% in 2000 and an output of 11m hl beer. Kaiser has been struggling for some time. Last year its losses amounted to R$68m, 44% worse than in 1999. Since 1997, Kaiser has lost 2.6m hl of beer sales.
According to research by A.C.Nielsen, Brazilian beer sales in March were as follows: Skol 32.6%, Brahma 22.1%, Antarctica 15%, Kaiser 13.6%, Schincariol 8.9%, Bavaria 3.5% and others 4.3%. Kaiser is controlled by Coca-Cola..

Happy distilling in Colorado

On 12 April the Governor signed into law a bill (Senate Bill 156) that will allow micro-distillery pubs in the state of Colorado. Distillery pubs will be able to produce spirits and sell them at the licensed facility and one other location. Distilling your own booze seems to be the latest fad among US microbrewers if discussions at the IBS National Craft Brewers‘ Conference in Portland (see report) are anything to go by.

Anheuser-Busch posts earnings growth

First-quarter net earnings at Anheuser-Busch rose 12.6 %, the company’s tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth. For the quarter ending March 31, 2001, Anheuser-Busch reported net income of US$394.4m, or 43 cents per diluted share. In the same period a year ago, Anheuser-Busch reported net income of US$350.3m, or 38 cents a share. Sales grew to almost US$3.5 bn in the first quarter, up from US$3.3 bn a year ago. This surprised some analysts as the weather in March had been cool, holding down sales in many US states. At the annual meeting in Orlando, shareholders defeated proposals to phase out the use of genetically engineered crops.