InBev reaffirmed and clarified certain aspects of its proposal to combine with Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc to form the world’s leading global brewer in a letter sent to August A. Busch IV, president and chief executive, and the Anheuser-Busch Board of Directors, according to company’s press release, June 15. In the letter, InBev said that its June 11th proposal to combine Anheuser-Busch and InBev by acquiring all outstanding common shares of Anheuser-Busch for $65 per-share in cash, representing a 35% premium to the unaffected share price, was made on the basis of Anheuser Busch's current assets, business and capital structure.

The Following is a copy of the letter InBev sent to the Board of Anheuser-Busch dated June 15, 2008:

Dear August,

We are writing to clarify certain aspects of our proposal of June 11th.

As we indicated in our letter, we are committed to entering into a constructive dialogue with you to achieve a friendly combination of our two companies. We also stated that we have the greatest respect for Grupo Modelo and its management and look forward to the opportunity to work with them to explore possible ways to expand the availability of the Grupo Modelo brands outside of North ...More Info

SABMiller Plc, the world's third- largest brewer, may be bought and split up within three years, as more beer mergers are likely to follow InBev NV's unsolicited offer for Anheuser-Busch Cos., ING Groep NV analysts said, according to Bloomberg, June 17.

ING's Gerard Rijk also said InBev may not scrap its bid for Anheuser should the Budweiser brewer succeed in its reported attempt to combine with Grupo Modelo SAB. The Mexican company's Corona brand would only make Anheuser more attractive, he said.

``InBev has probably triggered the last phase in global beer consolidation,'' Rijk wrote in an e-mailed note today. For InBev, Modelo is ``not a poison pill, it is a big opportunity. The spotlight will probably move to SABMiller'' if InBev succeeds in acquiring Anheuser, he wrote.

InBev bid $65 a share for Anheuser on June 11, a move that would create the world's largest brewer by sales volume and unite Budweiser with Stella Artois and 200 other brands. SAB has declined to comment on a Financial Times report in May that said it also held takeover talks with Leuven, Belgium-based InBev.

SAB spokesman Nigel Fairbrass and Inbev spokeswoman Rebecca Shelley both declined to comment on ING's note today.

Anheuser last night reiterated that ...More Info

Asahi Breweries Ltd aims to almost quadruple its overseas revenue to 200 billion yen ($1.86 billion) within five years from 55.4 billion yen in 2007 as it tries to offset declining alcohol consumption at home, Reuters reported June 16.

"We would like to raise our overseas sales to 200 billion yen, and we should not take five or 10 years to achieve that," said Asahi president Hitoshi Ogita in an interview with Reuters.

The maker of "Super Dry" beer is the leader in Japan's beer market with a 37.9 percent share in 2007, but its group revenue and profits trail those of rival Kirin Holdings Co Ltd, which has been better at adapting to a changing market.

In 2007, domestic beer sales accounted for 60 percent of Asahi's overall sales and overseas revenue stood at 4 percent. The figures for Kirin were 43.6 percent and 15.8 percent, respectively.

Asahi and its Japanese rivals are trying to compete with global mega-brewers for customers as well as increasingly costly raw materials amid drastic consolidation in the beer market.

InBev has launched a $46.3 billion bid to buy Anheuser-Busch as it seeks to create the world's largest brewer with the biggest-ever takeover of an alcoholic drinks company.

"The situation ...More Info

Guangdong-based Kingway Brewery Holdings Ltda subsidiary of GDH Ltd, the biggest Hong Kong-based enterprise owned by the Guangdong Provincial Government, said it may suffer a loss in the first half of this year amid decreasing sales and surging production costs, according to a statement released by the company, China Knowledge reported June 17.

It booked a net profit of HK$15.91 million in the first six months of 2007, down 78% from HK$70.76 million over the previous year.

Ye Xun, Chairman of Kingway Brewery, ascribed the loss to three newly-opened brew houses outside the headquarters last year, which led to a significant increase in depreciation charges. The overhead expenditure is also on the rise as a new brewery opened in Foshan in January.

For the full year of 2007, Kingway Brewery, in which international brewery Heineken N.V. holds a 21% stake, saw a net loss of HK$23.57 million, compared with a net profit of HK$110 million in 2006 as its sales costs mounted almost 30% from a year earlier to HK$130 million, according to its annual financial results.

Danish brewer Carlsberg expects annual savings of 700 million crowns ($144.2 million) from its business standardisation programme, when fully implemented, according to Reuters, June 17.

The estimated cost of the savings programme is about 1 billion crowns, Carlsberg said in a statement.

The company is holding an investor presentation in Basel, Switzerland.

The world's fifth-biggest brewer said it would give no update on current trading at the investors' conference.

The Ukrainian Antimonopoly Committee has cleared SABMiller’s proposal to buy over 50% of Ukrainian Brewery Holding (Cyprus), Namnews reported June 16. The UK-based brewer had earlier bought the Sarmat brewery, which had been part of the eponymous brewery group. It then announced about its readiness to purchase 99.84% stake in Sarmat closed joint-stock company.

The production capacity of the purchased brewery is 2.9 million hectolitres a year, and the total cost of the deal amounts to $130m. The Sarmat group is one of four largest beer producers in Ukraine.

Beer sales growth dropped to below one percent in the first five months of 2008, compared to 18 percent growth for the same period a year ago, because of rainy spring, rising utility and energy prices, the Union of Brewers in Bulgaria says, according to Reuters, June 17.

World barley production in 2008 is forecast to increase by 12.5m. tons, to 147.6m, with yields expected to recover substantially in Australia, Russia and Ukraine, according to International Grain Council. The area is estimated to expand by only 1%, as increases in plantings in the EU and CIS are partly offset by a fall in Canada.

In the European Union, where plantings are estimated to increase by 5.8%, rains in April slowed spring barley seeding, especially in Germany and the United Kingdom, and the crop forecast is reduced by 0.7m. tons, to 61.2m. (57.5m.). Significantly larger crops are expected in Germany, France, Bulgaria, Romania and the United Kingdom, more than offsetting the forecast decline in Spain, where yields are unlikely to match last year’s record. Spring planting in Russia was two-thirds complete by mid-May, helped by mostly favourable weather. Production is expected to be some 15% higher, at 18.0m. tons (15.6m.), due to an increase in area and improved yields. Following beneficial rains, the crop forecast for Ukraine is lifted by 0.3m. tons, to 9.2m. (6.7m.), well above last year’s poor result.

In Canada, where barley plantings were reduced in favour of wheat, a smaller crop of 10.5m. tons (11.0m.) ...More Info

With production expected to recover and assuming an improvement in the grain’s competitiveness relative to other feed ingredients – particularly maize – global barley consumption in 2008/09 is forecast to expand by 4%, to 145.2m. tons, International Grain Council has recently reported. Typically accounting for around 70% of demand, feed use is expected to rise by around 4m. tons, to 100.4m., including increases in the EU, the CIS and Near East Asia.

Malting and other industrial consumption is forecast to rise to 28.0m. tons (27.4m.), mainly due to increasing demand in the EU and China. In the EU, consumption is projected to expand by 0.4m. tons, to 9.7m., as malting and ethanol uses increase. Barley’s use in ethanol manufacture in the EU is expected to rise to 0.7m. tons (0.5m.), due to an increase in Spain and its improved competitiveness relative to alternative feedstocks, particularly sorghum.

The area sown to barley is forecast to increase only marginally from the previous season, to around 4.5 million hectares in 2008-09, according to ABARE, June 17.

New South Wales

The area planted to barley in 2008-09 is forecast to fall marginally to 1 million hectares. Barley production in 2008-09 is forecast to reach around 1.8 million tonnes, a 1.1 million tonne increase from 2007-08 production, reflecting a forecast improvement in yields.

Victoria

Barley production is forecast to increase by nearly 50 per cent in 2008-09 to 1.6 million tonnes. The majority of this increase in production is the result of an assumed return to average yields. The area planted to barley is forecast to increase by 3 per cent to 950 000 hectares.

Queensland

The area planted to barley is forecast to increase by 11 000 hectares to 100 000 hectares in 2008-09. Barley production is forecast increase by 4 per cent in 2008-09 to 166 000 tonnes.

Western Australia

The Western Australian barley area is forecast to be 1.2 million hectares, 50 000 hectares higher than the 2007-08 season. However, barley production is forecast to decline by 3 per cent to 2.1 million tonnes in 2008-09 as a result of lower yields.

South Australia

In 2008-09 the ...More Info

It is too early to establish a reliable supply picture of malting barley, according to analysts, May 30. The present malting capacity in the EU is 8.95 Mill. tons, we expect a malt production of 8.65 Mill. tons and a barley demand of 10.8 Mill. tons. In the largest production areas of malting barley, France, Germany, the U.K., Denmark, Sweden and the Czech Republic spring barley crops are forecast to be larger than last year, promising a sufficient supply of malting barley for domestic and export demand.

The percentage of malting barley varieties of total spring barley is traditionally high in France, Germany and Denmark; this year also the U.K., Sweden and Finland report a larger share of malting varieties. Winter malting barley plantings were down, in France less Vanessa and Esterel, in England less Pearl barley were seeded. French farmers preferred the higher yielding six-row variety Cervoise, which, however, is disliked by the industries and is traded at a heavy discount below other malting barleys.

Maryam Yaldagard Seyed Ali Mortazavi and Farideh Tabatabaie

Abstract
J. Inst. Brew. 114(1), 14-21, 2008 In this study the effects of different intensities and exposure time of ultrasound on barley seed have been investigated to determine the optimal conditions for accelerating germination. For optimization, the Taguchi approach was used. The germination rates and/or yield of the treated sample seed were compared with those of the untreated seed germinated under normal conditions. The seeds were treated with ultrasonic energy (input power 20- 90% of 460W) and were exposed to three time periods ranging from 5 to 15 min. It was found that germination of the treated barley seed was increased about 1.042–1.065 times compared with that of the untreated seed. The ultrasonic treatment proved to be efficient in reducing the germination period by 30-45%. It was concluded that priming of seeds with ultrasound was effective in improving water uptake and germination. The data presented in this paper suggest that the increase in final germination percentage, together with the reduced germination period in treated seeds, may be due to the action of ultrasound and that it led to an improved hydration process with concurrent shell fragmentation. Key words: Barley seed, enhancing germination, optimization, Taguchi technique, ultrasonic priming technique. ... Load full article, 8 pages, 353 Kb, PDF file