Australia’s Foster’s Group Limited made public its annual report for the year ended June 30, 2008, on its official website on September, 18.

In the twelve months to 30 June, Foster’s delivered net profit of A$111.7 million, and earnings per share of 5.8 cents, post significant items and SGARA, according to the report.

(The company’s preliminary report published on August, 26, said its net profit fell to A$117.7 mln ($96.03 million) from A$966.2 million a year earlier.)

Cash flow after dividends was up 52 per cent. Dividends in 2008 were 26.25 cents per share, taking the total capital returned to shareholders since the purchase of Southcorp in May 2005 to A$1.5 billion.

Global beer, cider and spirits earnings rose 7.7 per cent and account for 70 per cent of total Group earnings.

While beer sector competition is increasing, Foster’s continues to generate robust returns.

Foster’s Australia, Asia and Pacific business is performing well, with strong beer earnings driving a 9.0 per cent increase in net profit for the region before significant items and SGARA.

The company said it had achieved solid performance for its international portfolio in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Review of operations

The consolidated net profit of the Group after income tax expense and minority ...More Info

Carlsberg, the Nordic region's largest brewer, fell the most in almost a year in Copenhagen trading after beer production declined last month in Russia, where the company's Baltika unit leads the industry, the Moscow Times communicated on September, 17.

As it was reported by Russia’s State Statistics Service Rosstat, Russian beer output fell 10 percent in August from July and was up 0.3 percent from a year earlier.

Carlsberg registered the steepest decline since October, 18, 2007, dropping 26.5 kroner, or 6 percent, to 414.5 kroner in Copenhagen.

"There is some weak Russian market data for August," Kitty Gron, an analyst at Handelsbanken in Copenhagen, said by phone. "People are nervous."

Carlsberg took control of Baltika Breweries in April as part of its $10 billion joint takeover of Scottish & Newcastle with Heineken. Baltika, which makes the Carlsberg and Tuborg brands in Russia, is the country's biggest brewer, with 37 percent of the market.

Carlsberg spokesman Jens Peter Skaarup said the company does not comment on share price movements.

The stock's drop may be related to forced sales by Lehman Brothers Holdings after the U.S. bank filed for bankruptcy, said Soeren Moeller Soerensen, a trader at Amagerbanken in Copenhagen. Lehman was a joint ...More Info

InBev is planning to set up a new plant in Andhra Pradesh, India’s largest beer market by sales, and is taking its first locally produced brand, Tennents Super, to the neighbouring state of Karnataka this month, the Wall Street Journal reported on September, 17.

Karnataka is the first major market that Tennents is entering since its launch in Madhya Pradesh last week. Tennents is a strong beer variety and its major rivals in India are United Breweries Ltd’s Kingfisher Strong and SABMiller Plc.’s Haywards 5000.

“In Andhra Pradesh, we are looking at a greenfield (brewery). We are in different stages of (obtaining) government clearances,” said Raja Mukherji, chief executive officer of InBev India International Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture between InBev and New Delhi-based RK Jaipuria Group, which holds a 51% stake in the company.

Soon to be united, InBev and Anheuser-Busch are present in India on their own – the former through its joint venture and the latter through a wholly owned subsidiary based in Hyderabad.

According to Mr Mukherji, the likely implications of the proposed merger for the India operations of both companies are yet to be known.

“By the end of this year, I guess there will be clarity,” he added.

InBev ...More Info

After consolidating its operations in India, SABMiller India has restructured its organisation to gear itself up to the growth phase, Sify reported on September, 16.

“We have now moved to the next phase of our business,” SABMiller India’s Director for corporate affairs, Sandeep Kumar, said.

The company reported it now has a new structure with regional sales heads operating each of the three regions in the country and most of the functions such as sourcing, technical, brewery operations and planning functions have been centralised.

Earlier, each regional head was responsible for all the operations in his respective region. Kumar said the new structure is expected to make the company more responsive and bring it more in line with market conditions.

SABMiller also proposes to issue and allot on preferential basis 5 crore of equity shares at a face value of Rs 10 each, SABMiller Asia BV at a premium of Rs 46 per share for its corporate needs.

It will increase the promoters’ holding marginally to about 99.38 per cent. Sandeep Kumar also said that over the last one year, the diversified portfolio of the second largest beer maker in India has also been consolidated. Out of 18 brands, now six key brands ...More Info

InBev’s 2008 Global Citizenship Report released on its website on September, 16, demonstrates how the company is working to achieve its dream of becoming the Best Beer Company in a Better World, the Belgian brewer announced.

This year’s report, the company’s fourth, marks a significant step forward, reporting not only on past performance, but also sharing publicly, for the first time, targets on key measures such as water and energy use, as well as carbon emissions reductions.

Carlos Brito, InBev CEO, said:

“Our dream of becoming the Best Beer Company in a Better World strikes a balance between generating great business results and managing our environmental and social responsibilities.”

“This vision channels the passion and commitment we already have for operating this company in a sustainable and responsible way.”

“The report shows how far we have come in achieving our dream and what we will be doing in the future to ensure the continued success of both the business and our responsibilities as the leading global brewer.”

Key Performance Indicators

The volume of beer produced by InBev in 2007 amounted to 271 mln hl, whereas in 2006 it was 247 mln hl.

The 2007 revenue constituted €14.430 mln (€13.308 mln in 2006).

Normalized EBITDA in 2007 was €4.992 mln ...More Info

Corona beer distributor Crown Imports, a joint venture between Constellation Brands Inc and Grupo Modelo, is not for sale, Reuters cited Crown’s president on September, 16.

Crown Imports President Bill Hackett said Crown was not for sale in a presentation at a meeting of beer wholesalers on September, 15.

Mr Hackett quoted Constellation Chief Executive Robert Sands as saying he has never expressed interest in selling Constellation's half of Crown, or in ending its relationship with Modelo, the Mexican brewer of Corona.

This was confirmed by a Constellation spokesman on September, 16.

Following an August meeting with Sands, Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Greenberg wrote in a note on Sept. 1 that Sands had expressed interest in terminating the joint venture and indicated that the franchise could be "severable" sooner than the contract expires, without harming the rest of the business.

"He indicated that management would always be willing to entertain offers it considered attractive from an economic value standpoint," Greenberg wrote.

Greenberg was not available to comment on September, 16.

While some on Wall Street have long speculated that Modelo would like to acquire the venture outright once the contract expires, that possibility has been called into question by consolidation on a larger scale.

Half-owned by Anheuser-Busch, ...More Info

Carlsberg Bulgaria has achieved a 66% sales growth in the last three years and through its results is the leading subdivision of Carlsberg - South East Europe, the Bulgarian Dnevnik published on September, 18.

Carlsberg – South East Europe includes seven countries – Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Hungary, and Slovenia. Over the period 2004 – 2007 the company increased its sales in the region by 46%. According to Carlsberg’s data, sales growth helped to raise operating profits before tax five times during the mentioned period.

The strategy of focusing on premium brands has proved very effective in all seven countries. Market analyses show that Carlsberg – South East Europe has doubled the share of premium beers in its portfolio in the last three years. The company’s Bulgarian unit increased the share of premium beers more than twentyfold over the same period, it is reported.

Carlsberg Bulgaria had a share of 25% on the country’s market in 2007. The company reported a 22% sales increase last year compared to the results of 2006. Bulgaria’s general market growth was 9% in 2007.

Obolon brewery, one of Ukraine’s largest beer makers, is planning to put into operation a malthouse in the Khmelnitsk region at the end of 2008 – beginning of 2009, Ekonomicheskye Izvestya communicated on September, 10.

Previously, Obolon’s acting general manager Sergey Bloshchanevich said that the plant’s annual production capacity will be 60 thousand tonnes of malt.

According to Alexander Slobodyan, the company’s honorary president, the investments in this project will amount to about EUR20 mln. It is assumed that the facility will satisfy only Obolon’s internal needs.

The company’s Kiev malthouse produces about 50 thousand tonnes of malt annually. Thus, Obolon’s malting capacity will correspond to one third of Ukraine’s malt market.

The malt market is recognised by experts as one of the most promising. In 2006/2007 Ukraine’s malt production amounted to 379.2 thousand tonnes. Thus, Obolon’s malthouse with the production potential of 120 thousand tonnes will account for the production of more than 30% of the country’s total malt market. At present Ukraine’s breweries import about 70% of the malt they use in the brewing process.

However, analysts do not predict absolute leadership for Obolon on the malt market.

Malteurop Ukraine is also planning the construction of a new facility. It already owns ...More Info

The Grains and Oilseeds Outlook published by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada on September, 17, contains 2008 production estimates from Statistics Canada.

Total supply of grains and oilseeds for 2008-09 in Canada is forecast to increase slightly from 2007-08, with increased production partially offset by significantly lower carry-in stocks.

While western Canadian production is expected to increase significantly from 2007-08, the harvest has been delayed by late maturity and wet weather, so that quality of the barley crops remains uncertain, it is reported.

Total barley supply for 2008-09 is estimated at 12.5 mln tonnes, marginally lower than the previous year, as higher-than-expected carry-in stocks mostly offset the 1% decline in production.

Total exports are forecast at 2.3 mln tonnes, significantly lower than a year ago, due to an expected decline in feed barley exports.

Carryout stocks are projected to fall by 30% to near record low levels. The average off-Board feed barley price is forecast to be similar to 2007-08 due to lower supply and higher US feed grain prices.

Market price for feed barley on the European market was pressured towards fall together with wheat, the French La Depeche posted on September, 18.

Experts attribute dropping prices to the surplus of feed grain in the EU and in the Black Sea countries. Trading activity is also shrinking, market participants being slightly baffled by the situation on the market.

Malting barley market was rather lifeless this week, according to experts. The crop 2008 customers have shown no signs of life, it is reported. Malting barley rates followed the languor of the surrounding grain market. Nevertheless, some small-scale deals on crop 2009 were registered by the market this week.

The major concern for farmers is completing what has every indication of being one of the worst harvests for more than 20 years, the Business Scotsman posted on September, 17.

However, in some areas such as the Black Isle and Easter Ross malting barley has been coming in off the field at as little as 14 per cent moisture with nitrogen levels more than acceptable to trade buyers.

The best barley, mostly sold forward on contract, could well command a price of more than £180 per tonne, experts suggest.

But that price may not last, according to Stuart Shand, the sales director of Gleadell Agriculture, one of the UK's biggest grain traders. He said: "The market continues to fall on the back of a weak feed trade and the sheer volume of EU and domestic malting barley offered to the trade. UK buyers are covered this side of Christmas, but export interest has disappeared. If farmers need to move malting barley soon, our advice is to sell sooner than later."

Adas, the English advisory service, reckons that at least 25 per cent of the spring barley is still awaiting the arrival of a combine harvester in an increasingly soggy field.

There are some ...More Info

Most brewers of craft and specialty beers got into the business because they wanted to produce artisan brews with a unique flavour. But today some of them say they might also start planting beer’s crucial ingredient – hops, seattlepi.com published on September, 18.

For two years already small brewers are worried they might not find enough hops to produce their standard beers, let alone experiment with new ones, on the back of the worldwide hops shortage. Many such enterprises are planting hops themselves to ensure an adequate supply, at a price they can afford.

"With the price spike for hops, everybody figures they're going to grow their own and become small-scale hop growers," said Dave Wills of Freshops, a commercial supplier of hops and hop plants in nearby Philomath, who has seen a 300 percent increase in orders this year.

One-fourth of the world's hops are grown in the United States, largely in the Pacific Northwest. But a decade-long oversupply forced many farmers to abandon the crop. Acreage fell 30 percent between 1995 and 2006, when stocked warehouses finally emptied.

At the same time, the number of microbreweries increased.

Beer giants such as Budweiser and Coors can hedge against rising prices and negotiate better, longer-term ...More Info

Florian Kühbeck, Werner Back and Martin Krottenthaler

Abstract

J. Inst. Brew. 112(3), 215–221, 2006 This review paper covers a variety of aspects concerning lauter turbidity and wort clarity that have been published in the past decades. The components of wort which are connected to an increased lauter turbidity, such as lipids and long-chain fatty acids, are presented as well as how the further steps of wort production, i.e. wort boiling and clarification, have an impact thereon. Besides the influence of lauter turbidity on wort quality, technical aspects affecting lauter turbidity are discussed by comparing different lauter systems such as lauter tun, mash filter and strainmaster. It is further highlighted, how lauter turbidity and its components influence fermentation performance and yeast vitality. Finally, the consequences of increased wort turbidity for the resulting beers in terms of flavour quality, flavour stability, nonbiological stability and foam stability are described. Key words: Fermentation, lipids, long-chain fatty acids, mash separation, wort clarity, zinc. Load full article, 9 pages, 278 Kb, PDF file