Kirin Holdings Company Ltd and San Miguel Corporation (SMC) have entered into a Share Purchase Agreement by which Kirin purchases the shares in San Miguel Brewery, Inc. (SMB), the domestic beer business subsidiary of SMC, the Japanese brewer announced on February, 20.

Kirin will purchase 6,665,023,690 shares in SMB (43.249% of the issued and outstanding shares) from SMC through a private transaction at a purchase price of Php8.841 per share, resulting in the total acquisition price of approximately Php58.93 bln ($1.2 billion). The purchase will be made in two phases, targeting for final closing by the end of May 2009.

In addition, Kirin said it would launch a tender offer to purchase additional shares form SMB shareholders other than SMC. All the shares tendered shall be purchased by Kirin at the same price as the purchase price for SMC. By combining both transactions, Kirin will be able to obtain up to 7,551,134,690 SMB shares (49% of the outstanding shares).

Besides, Kirin, SMC and SMB will undertake to negotiate exclusively for SMB’s potential purchase of shares in SMC’s overseas beer business. The exclusivity will be in effect for six months after SMC’s announcement of its intent to sell the shares in its overseas beer ...More Info

Baltika Breweries, the leader on the Russian beer market, announced on February, 19 its financial results for 2008.

The company’s revenue increased by 17.2% to 92,482.3 mln roubles, gross profit was 45,813.8 mln roubles (+11.5%), EBITDA was 27,056.3 mln roubles (+ 15.5%), and net profit grew 11.1% to 15,511.3 mln roubles.

Despite the deepening of the world financial crisis, in Q4 the Company delivered good results: sales volume in Q4 amounted to 9.4 mln hl, revenue increased by 11.8% and amounted to 19,644.4 mln roubles, and EBIT grew by 27.3% to 4,023.7 mln roubles.

In 2008, Baltika’s beer sales volume was 44.5 mln hl (+ 1.8% compared to 2007).

Against the background of a slight decline in the volume of the Russian beer market in 2008, Baltika delivered growth in sales and increased its market share: at year’s end it stood at 38.3%, which is 0.7% greater than in 2007.

The volume of export sales in 2008 grew by +11.6% compared to the preceding year and came to 2.2 mln hl. The growth in export sales amounted to 16.8%, including licensed sales.

n 2008, sales growth of the Baltika brand amounted to +14.5%, including growth of the premium variety Baltika №7 Export (+24%), Baltika Cooler (+22%), ...More Info

Brewer Lion Nathan Ltd announced on February, 19 its trading update for the quarter ended December 31, 2008.

The company said its net sales revenue growth was approximately 15% and beer volume increased by 9% to 221 mln litres over the reporting period.

The Australian beer market remains robust with a growth rate of 2.3% for the quarter and 0.2% on a MAT basis as measured by AC Nielsen, Lion Nathan said. Adjusting prior year volumes to include Boag’s, the brewer grew volumes by 2.5% in the quarter.

According to Lion Nathan, Australian consumers continue to move towards premium and step-up beers and the low-carb and midstrength categories remain in healthy growth. XXXX Gold, Tooheys Extra Dry, James Squire and Hahn Super Dry all performed strongly over the first quarter.

The Boag's brands performed well over Christmas and remained a key driver for the company.

Lion Nathan’s New Zealand business grew volumes by one per cent. Net sales revenue for beer, wine, spirits and RTDs (ready-to-drink) was up 2.7 per cent.

The brewer’s domestic beer volume was in line with the same period last year at 50 mln litres, with premium category volume up 10%.

Lion Nathan reported its new Auckland brewery was on track to ...More Info

Slavutich Carlsberg Group, the Ukrainian subsidiary of the Danish brewing giant, announced on February, 19 its results of 2008.

The company’s sales amounted to 8,169 thousand hl (+ 19% on 2007). In money terms, Slavutich’s sales volume constituted UAH2,277 mln (+ 44%). The brewer posted a net loss of UAH 293 million in 2008 compared with a net profit of UAH 43 million in 2007.

The negative result was due to exchange rate losses stemming from loans denominated in foreign currency. However, operating profit rose 12% to UAH 127 million and EBITDA was up 26% to UAH 297 million.

Despite a downturn in the beer market, the company boosted sales volumes and market share, to 23.7% from 20.4% in 2007.

Over the last year, the share of the company’s main trade mark Slavutich grew by 28.5%. The brand’s share on the domestic market increased by 1.8% to 8% in 2008.

The Tuborg trade mark increased sales by 15%. Its share of the Ukrainian market grew 0.3% to 2.3%. The Baltika brand achieved a sales growth of 26.3%, its share of the market grew by 0.5% to 2.3% in 2008. The share of the Baltika brand within the premium segment constituted about 30%.

Sales of Lvovskoye ...More Info

In 2008, for the first time in six years, the volume of alcohol sales in Latvia decreased, The Baltic Course cited on February, 19 data by the State Revenue Service's (SRS).

In 2008 the total volume of alcoholic beverages sold in the country was almost 4% lower than in 2007, whereas beer sales fell by 4% on 2007, it is reported.

Last year, about 1.46 mln hl of beer was sold in Latvia, compared with 1.52 mln hl in 2007. Both Latvia-produced and imported beer sales volumes shrunk.

SRS points out that in the first four months of the last year, or before the economic downturn began in Latvia, alcohol sales volume was relatively high, which allowed the total alcohol excise tax revenue in 2008 to surpass the results of 2007, although the sales volumes decreased significantly after May.

Altogether, the excise tax revenue from alcohol and beer sales in 2008 totalled LVL 101.2 million, which is nearly 1% up on 2007.

Beer comprised 67% of total alcoholic beverages sales in 2008, it is reported.

East African Breweries reported on February, 20 a 5 percent rise in first-half pretax profit to 6.77 billion shillings ($85 million).

“Despite the difficult business environment that we faced across the region, I am pleased to announce that we grew our volumes by 8% and our net sales by 12%,” the company's managing director Gerald Mahinda said.

The brewer’s net profit increased 5% to 4.05 mln shillings in the six months ended December 31, 2008.

Tusker, Guinness, Bell and Senator were the main drivers of the growth both in Kenya and Uganda while the launch of Alvaro in Uganda was successful.

Mahinda admitted that the business had registered weaker growth compared to the same period in 2007 due to the economic slowdown that consequently led to lower disposable income. This coupled with increased taxation in Kenya for both malt and non-malt beers and spirits resulted to increased prices for the products.

“In Kenya there was a large increase in excise tax on non malt beer by 65 % and 300% on local spirits between June and December of last year. This resulted in many consumers shifting to cheaper brands including illicit brews,” Mahinda added.

Production costs increased by 23% due to raw materials cost pressure ...More Info

Deals on feed barley are closed very rarely and for very small quantities on the EU market, La Depeche reported on February, 20.

The activity on the feed barley market at the moment represents only small adjustments to stocks. Actually, on a market headed downwards, buyers are not in a hurry to close deals. On the other hand, the offer is reported to have slightly risen.

The market of malting barley is fuzzy, traders report. A delayed planting generates uncertainty and the market is blocked by abundant stocks of malting barley. Under the existing conditions, the level of prices is difficult to determine.

Anheuser-Busch, now part of the Belgium-based world’s leading brewer AB InBev, is going to terminate its contract with Alsace hops producers, DNA reported on February, 18.

Abandoned by their main customer, Alsace hop growers will most likely have to destroy the production of 350 – 400 ha of their plantings (774 ha in total). Half of the farms, thus, will remain without crop this year. Bernard Ingwiller, President of Cophoudal (union of Alsatian hop growers) said the contract period was to end in 2011. The brewer usually bought 65% of the region’s total hops production.

Sofie Malfliet, Filip Van Opstaele, Jessika De Clippeleer, Evelien Syryn, Koen Goiris1, Luc De Cooman and Guido Aerts

Abstract:
J. Inst. Brew. 114(2), 180–192, 2008 Flavour changes of six Belgian pale lager beers were studied in order to estimate the importance of different parameters and reactions in relation to the ageing process. An attempt was made to link analytical data with sensory evaluation using multivariate statistical analysis. Partial least squares regression techniques (PLSR) were employed on the analytical and sensory data. As apparent from the PLSR model, significant indicators of lager beer ageing are aldehyde markers (especially total aldehydes, furfural, hexanal, 2-methylpropanal, 2-methylbutanal, and 3- methylbutanal), cold and permanent haze, and beer colour. Conversely, compounds or parameters that load negatively in the PLSR model for beer ageing are trans-isohumulones, cis-isohumulones, total bitterness, the T/C-ratio, polyphenolic markers (especially proanthocyanidins), the flavanoid content, and, to a lesser extent, the TB-index and reducing power (TRAP). The integrated analytical-sensorial methodology is proposed as a useful tool for evaluation of the flavour instability of pale lager beers. Key words: analytical markers, beer ageing, flavour instability, partial least squares regression. Load full article, 5 pages, 511 Kb, PDF file