USA: Adolph Coors Co. announced on January 7 that its fourth-quarter U.S. sales volume to wholesalers rose 4.2 %. It said wholesaler sales to retail increased 0.8 %. The company said for 2004, U.S. sales volume to retail fell 0.8 %, with sales to retail decreasing 0.2 % compared with 2003. Coors said it issued the fourth-quarter sales figures in response to reports that U.S. beer sales industry wide declined for the final three months of the year.

Coors chief executive officer Leo Kiely said: “We are pleased with the increase in our US sales to retail in the fourth quarter, which benefited from the comparison to lower sales in the fourth quarter of 2003, when we faced US supply-chain challenges, along with the introduction of Aspen Edge earlier this year and strong growth from our Blue Moon and Zima XXX brands.”

12 January, 2005