E-Malt.com News article: 4156

Chile, Santiago: Compañía Cervecerías Unidas S.A. (CCU) announced on February 2 its consolidated financial results, stated in Chilean GAAP for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2004. “The year 2004 was a very positive one for CCU. The Company reached record levels in its main financial indicators: volume sales of 11.3 million hectoliters, revenues of US$755 million, operating income of US$105 million and EBITDA of US$177 million. We improved the profitability of all our business segments,” company’s CEO said.

For Q4 2004 total revenues increased 4.6% to Ch$126,499 million (US$226.9 million), as a result of higher consolidated volumes, partially offset by lower average prices. Consolidated volumes growth is explained by an increase of 4.2% in beer Chile, 5.8% in beer Argentina, 0.9% in the soft drink segment, 3.1% and 10.9% in the Chilean domestic and Argentinean wine businesses, respectively. The decrease in average prices is explained by 2.6% lower prices in the soft drink segment and 1.6% lower prices in beer Chile. Gross profit in Q4’04 Increased 0.4% to Ch$67,835 million (US$121.7 million) as a result of 4.6% higher revenues, partially offset by a 9.9% higher cost of goods sold, which amounted to Ch$58,664 million (US$105.2 million). The increase in cost of goods sold is explained by beer Chile, beer Argentina and the soft drink segments as well as a higher level of pisco sales. In Q4’04, the gross profit margin, as a percentage of sales, decreased from 55.9% to 53.6%.

For full year 2004 accumulated revenues increased 6.9% and amounted to Ch$420,638 million (US$754.6 million). Gross profit in 2004 Increased 9.2%, amounting to Ch$218,016 million (US$391.1 million). The consolidated gross margin increased 1.1 percentage points to 51.8%.

The Chilean beer business increased its operating result by 13.1% during 2004. The brand mix favored premium brands, especially Heineken, Kunstmann, Budweiser and Royal. The month of December was an all-time high, with volumes of almost 580,000 hectoliters. 2004 was the second consecutive year that the total revenues of the Chilean beer industry increased more than GDP, reflecting the success of our ACC Plan initiated in 2001.

The Argentine beer segment improved it operating performance by US$6.1 million during the year. Prices increased 8% in December, finishing the year at US$37 per HL, compared to US$30 per HL in December 2003. Additionally, we reached a market share of 15.9% in Q4’04, compared to 15.1% in Q4’03.

“Finally, during the quarter we refinanced our long-term debt, taking advantage of low interest rates, with a new syndicated loan of US$100 million and a new bond issue of UF2 million. Additionally, the syndicated loan was transformed into a fixed-rate UF loan through a cross-currency swap. The debt refinancing will allow CCU to decrease its overall financial expenses.”


05 February, 2005