United Breweries Holdings reported a 67 per cent increase in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2008 at Rs 6.93 crore as against Rs 4.15 crore posted in the corresponding quarter last year, The Business Standard posted on January, 20.

Total income of the company in the quarter, however, declined 11 per cent to Rs 91.75 crore when compared to Rs 102.91 crore in the same quarter last year.

The company’s total expenditure in the quarter has decreased 8 per cent at Rs 51 crore as compared to Rs 55.25 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

UB’s net sales amounted to Rs 72.05 crore in Q3 ended December, 2008 (Rs 60.07 crore in Q3 ended December, 2007).

Kirin Holdings Company, Limited and San Miguel Corporation (SMC) have executed the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the exclusivity for Kirin in its negotiation to invest in San Miguel Brewery, Inc., the beer business subsidiary of SMC, the Japanese brewer announced on January, 19.

Kirin will enter into exclusive negotiations with SMC to acquire 43.25% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of SMB. This investment will significantly contribute Japanese company’s further growth in its alcohol business in Asia and Oceania.

According to the report, the details of the transaction are to be further discussed by both parties. Kirin and SMC will target on signing definitive agreements by the end of February.

SMB's beer market share in the Philippines is approximately 95%, and its parent SMC has long been in the business in Asia, including China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand. Through the contemplated investment, Kirin is aiming to establish the strong operational base on both manufacturing and sales in the Asia and Oceania markets, accelerating creation of group synergies in alcohol business.

San Miguel Brewery Inc. shares rose the most in eight months in Manila trading after the announcement, Bloomberg reported on January, 20.

San Miguel Brewery jumped 11 percent to close at 9.80 pesos, the ...More Info

Efes Breweries International N.V. announced on January, 19 its sales volume figures for the year ended 31.12.2008.

In 2008, EBI’s consolidated sales volume reached 14.1 mln hl, recording a growth of 5.8% over the previous year. Sales volume growth on an organic basis was 4.9% in the year.

According to the company’s statement, the data on sales volume organic growth are calculated without including the sales volume of JSC Lomisi in Georgia, the FY2007 and 1H 2008 sales volume of Efes Serbia, which is excluded from EBI’s financials after the end of 1H2008, and the sales volume of “Viva” and “Real” mineral water brands in Moldova, which were sold to the Coca-Cola Company in February 2007.

Fourth quarter sales volume was down by 0.5% compared to a year ago, due to the effects of a sharp economic slowdown in the region combined with the strong base of last year, the brewer posted.

In Russia, 2008 sales volume reached 11.1 mln hl, by growing 6.8% over the previous year. The negative impact of deteriorating consumer confidence in Russia was apparent throughout the year, but was witnessed to its greatest extent in the fourth quarter. The market is expected to have contracted by more than 5% ...More Info

In comparison with 2008, the total volume of Latvia’s beer market will shrink by 5-6%, or 7-8 mln litres, this year, Aldaris Brewery board chairwoman Inara Sure was quoted as saying by DELFI on January, 19.

According to Ms Sure, the year 2008 saw a smaller decline – 3.5%, or 5.5 mln litres, from 2007.

This volume decline is enough to negatively influence not only the financial results of the Latvian brewers but also the nation’s tax proceeds.

Sure says the crisis will hit harder due to the government’s rash decision to increase beer excise and the value-added tax.

Nevertheless, she assessed Aldaris’ performance in 2008 as good.

Cobra Beer founder Lord Karan Bilimoria is scouting for a partner to steer the Indian arm of the brewing enterprise out of losses, The Economic Times reported on January, 20.

Besides, Mr Bilimoria may decide against an outright sale of the operations, sources inform.

Ravi Jain, a veteran expert of the alcoholic beverage industry who is emerging from a three-year no-compete pact with UB chairman Vijay Mallya, is mentioned as a potential partner.

The Billimoria family is also believed to be talking to financial investors for taking the Indian operations forward.

Last month, Cobra Beer invited separate bids to sell-off the UK and India business. While sectoral observers predict a bidding war for the mainstay UK business, the Indian arm is unlikely to attract robust offers.

Market rumours have pointed to InBev’s joint venture with RJ Corp as a potential bidder for the India unit, but a top company official denied them.

Sources close to the Bilimoria family said the promoter was interested to take the local arm forward, as it might fetch a higher valuation a few years down the line.

"If there is no irresistible offer, he (Bilimoria) will want to steer the business to profitability with the help of a partner ...More Info

Both the feed and malting barley markets have shown upward movement in the past couple weeks, which has come as a surprise to many, The Farm & Ranch Guide reported on January, 19. “We've seen feed barley come up 30 cents or more in the last couple of weeks,” says Jeremy Burkhart, a grain merchandiser with Sun Prairie Grain in Minot, North Dakota, “and that's probably a combination of two factors: there just isn't any barley moving at the time with the weather conditions we have and the corn market has strengthened, which has supported feed barley prices. The buyers are trying to shake a little bit of barley out of the bins with these higher prices.”

As a means of comparison, Burkhart referred to marketing sheets back on Dec. 22 when feed barley was at $2.15 a bushel and compared it to Jan. 9 when the local cash price for barley was at $3, and that figure is about the average over the entire state.

Future movement of cash feed barley prices will be pretty much determined by what corn prices do, he noted.

“With the ethanol industry struggling a little right now we are seeing more corn going into feed use, ...More Info

Canada's Conservative government will not introduce legislation in the short term to seek an end to the Canadian Wheat Board's monopoly on barley marketing, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz was quoted as saying by Reuters on January, 19.

"We are holding back on legislation on barley," Ritz told reporters on a conference call.

"I don't see that on my radar screen in the next short time," he said, adding that he would focus on expanding international trade opportunities for agricultural exporters.

Ritz said the government remains committed to eventually reforming the farmer-controlled CWB, one of the world's largest wheat exporters.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper, first elected in 2006, has wanted to give Prairie farmers the choice of selling to the CWB or dealing directly with buyers.

Ottawa's first attempt to open up barley marketing was successfully challenged in court. It later introduced legislation on the issue, but never brought it before Parliament for a vote.

Harper won a strengthened minority in an election last October and will lay out his policy agenda in a major speech when Parliament resumes, it is reported.

Paulo J. Magalhaes, Pavel Dostalek, Jose M. Cruz, Luis F. Guido and Aquiles A. Barros

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 114(3), 246–256, 2008 Based on the health-promoting properties of xanthohumol (XN), the production of an enriched beer in this substance would be of interest to the brewing industry, from the perspective of pointing out the benefits that beer could bring consumer health. For that purpose, in this work efforts were applied to produce a beer enriched in XN. Also investigated was the influence of a XNenriched hop product on the content of XN and isoxanthohumol (IXN) in pale and dark beers. It was verified that XN was largely converted into IXN during wort boiling. However, the use of dark malts revealed a positive effect on the thermal isomerisation of XN. These results are indicative of the isomerisationinhibiting effect of the stout production process, which resulted in high levels of XN in the beer. Further losses of XN were due to incomplete extraction from the hops into the wort, adsorption to insoluble malt proteins and adsorption to yeast cells during fermentation. It was possible to produce a dark beer enriched in XN (3.5 mg/L) by using coloured malt (caramel malt, roasted malt and roasted malt extract) and a special XN hop extract combined with late hop usage during wort boiling. Key words: beer, health, hop, isoxanthohumol, polyphenols, xanthohumol. Load full article, 11 pages, 513 Kb, PDF file