Molson Inc., Canada's oldest and largest brewer, said on January 29 that higher beer sales in Brazil helped push third-quarter earnings up by 49% but said competition was stiffer at home.

Molson, which became the world's 13th largest brewer with the purchase of Brazil's Kaiser brewery in March 2002, said it earned C$67.0 million ($44.1 million), or 52 Canadian cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, up from C$45.0 million, or 37 Canadian cents a share, in the year-earlier period.

Molson said it was slowly reaping profits from the Brazilian acquisition but said it lost market share in Canada. "Operationally, the share performance in Canada is lower than expected. However, plans are in place to address this weakness and to strengthen our brand portfolios and market share as we move towards next summer and the years ahead," O'Neill said.

Overall revenue increased 24 percent to C$641.3 million, the company said, with Canadian revenue was up 3 percent to C$483.0 million from C$468.4 million a year ago.

30 January, 2003