Zimbabwe: SABMiller’s Delta Corporation reports drop in lager sales, other segments record growth in Q1

Delta Corporation Ltd., Zimbabwe’s biggest company by market value, said fiscal first-quarter revenue rose 8 percent as consumers shifted to a local traditional drink following a tax increase on lager, Bloomberg reported on July, 24.

Volume in the three months through June increased 4 percent from a year earlier, with all segments recording growth except for an 8 percent drop in lager consumption, Harare-based Delta said in a statement published in the Herald newspaper on July, 24. Maheu traditional brew volume surged 80 percent, sparkling-beverage consumption jumped 13 percent and sorghum beer sales rose 6 percent, it said.

Lager beer sales in Zimbabwe have been curbed by an excise duty increase in December 2012 and a lack of small coinage in a multi-currency economy. The company said it’s in talks with the government on the effects of the tax increase.

Delta Corporation Ltd. is an affiliate of SABMiller Plc, the world’s second-largest brewer, which holds a stake of 25 percent, according to the London-based company’s annual report for the year through March.

26 July, 2013