USA: Craft Brewers Alliance announces good results for the last year

Craft Brewers Alliance, formed through a merger of Pacific north-west craft brewers Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery in 2008, announced last week that sales growth for last year should be in the range of 11% and 12%.

Depletion growth is forecast to come in between 5.5% and 6%, with growth expected to moderate in the fourth quarter, “as a result of pricing actions in key markets”.

While full-year earnings per share should range from $0.49 to $0.51, around $0.34 of that will come from a one-time gain on the Fulton Street Brewery sale to AB InBev in March, Craft Brewers Alliance (CBA) said. AB InBev holds a 32.5% stake in CBA.

In November, CBA posted a 12.7% lift in net sales for the nine months to the end of September, with operating profits leaping by 21.2% year-on-year.

20 January, 2012