Heineken Holding N.V. announced that its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) has adopted all proposals on the agenda of the annual meeting of Heineken Holding N.V, according to Heineken’s press release, April 17. The most important resolutions and announcements are listed below. Acquisition Scottish & Newcastle plc

The AGM has approved the acquisition by Sunrise Acquisitions Ltd., a company jointly owned by Heineken N.V. and Carlsberg A/S, of the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Scottish & Newcastle plc and the subsequent 100% shareholding by Heineken N.V. of Sunrise Acquisitions Ltd. after transfer by it of certain businesses of Scottish & Newcastle plc to Carlsberg A/S. Dividend

The Board of Directors announced the distribution of a dividend over 2007 of €0.70 per ordinary share of €1.60 nominal value. Since an interim dividend of €0.24 was paid on 20 September 2007, the final dividend will be €0.46 per ordinary share. The final dividend will be made payable as of Friday 25 April 2008. Heineken Holding N.V. shares will be quoted ex-dividend on Monday 21 April 2008.

South African Breweries (SAB) has reported flat volume growth in SA although it lost Amstel last March, Business Day reported April 17. The licence to brew Amstel, which accounted for 9% of SA sales, was yanked by Heineken and the beer is now fully imported. SAB initially expected to gain back 4,5% of its Amstel share and the launch of Hansa Marzen Gold just after SA ran out of Amstel was well received. Other brands in the SAB stable also benefited, such as Castle Light. A fuller picture should emerge when full year results are released next month.

Heineken did not get the brew back into SA until October. The move was costly -- importing full bottles cannot be cheap -- and now there is a R4.7bn investment by it and partner Diageo in a brewery.

Just how much market it commands is not clear, but it cannot be more than 10%, as SAB had 98% before losing Amstel. But SAB doesn't seem worried. The brewery will be up only at the end of next year, and SAB has proven its ability to hold on to market share.

M. Trnka1, P. Hlavinka1, D. Semerádová1, M. Dubrovský2, Z. Žalud1, M. Možný3

1Institute of Agrosystems and Bioclimatology, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry in Brno, Czech Republic; 2Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic; 3Agrometeorological Observatory in Doksany, Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, Prague, Czech Republic

ABSTRACT
The relationship between detrended district yields of spring barley (1961–2000) and meteorological drought was assessed by Palmer Z-index. We found that the seasonal water balance (April–June) significantly (P = 0.05) influences the spring barley production in 51 out of 62 evaluated districts. Coefficients of correlation varied in individual districts from 0.19 to 0.70, with the highest values being found in southern Moravia. Data analysis revealed the presence of six distinct groups of districts with a specific drought-yield relationship. The most drought-sensitive cluster included five districts in the South East of the country. On the other hand, the districts in Northern Moravia and Silesia belong among the least sensitive to agricultural drought. The study also defined threshold values of seasonal drought (sums of relative Palmer Z-index lower than –8 and –10, respectively), below which medium to severe spring barley yield reductions are very likely, regardless of the district of occurrence.
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