Canada: Molson Coors has completed a preliminary assessment of its Brazilian operations

Molson Coors Brewing Co., the world's No. 5 beer maker, has completed a preliminary assessment of its troubled Brazilian operations. A decision on what to do could be coming soon, Company’s chief executive said on May 11 at the first annual shareholders meeting since the two brewers merged in February.

"In recent months, the team in Brazil has made significant progress rationalizing the cost base of the business, but clearly much more work is needed. We've had due diligence teams working in Brazil the past several weeks, and we'll be presenting our initial assessment to our board of directors tomorrow,” Leo Kiely told the meeting held at Molson's historic brewing plant in Montreal. "Making the right strategic choice in Brazil is critically important," Kiely said.

The CEO refused to speculate on what the company may do with the Brazil brewery, but said the company has to consider how much it would cost to turn it around. The distribution system also has to be examined and the company has to determine how much more it could cut costs, he said.

Molson acquired the Kaiser brand in Brazil in 2002 and the Bavaria brand in that country previously. Together they have 10 per cent of the large Brazilian beer market but sales and market share are on the decline due to distribution and marketing problems.

14 May, 2005