Carlsberg A/S will pursue Asian expansion and growth in the Russian beer market rather than chasing major acquisitions to catch larger brewing rivals, Chief Executive Officer Jorgen Buhl Rasmussen was quoted as saying by Bloomberg on March, 8.

The Danish brewing giant is focused on takeovers in its existing markets and overhauling its European operations to make them more profitable, Rasmussen said in an interview. Having lowered debt by 8.5 billion kroner ($1.6 billion) last year, the company now has the flexibility to buy smaller assets again, he said.

“To me, it’s less about being number four or number two on a global scale - it’s more important to have scale where we choose to be,” Rasmussen said. “Very big, serious acquisitions are not really what we have on our mind right now.”

Carlsberg made its biggest acquisition in 2008, teaming up with Heineken NV to buy and break up Scottish & Newcastle Plc for 7.8 billion pounds ($11.9 billion). The brewer subsequently has focused on cutting costs and reducing capital expenditure, increasing free cash flow to 10.5 billion kroner in 2009.

The top four beer makers now control more than half the global market after two years of more than $75 ...More Info

China’s beer output, estimated to have reached 410 mln hl last year, is expected to amount to 500 mln hl by 2014, experts said at the beginning of this month.

Over the next 4 years, the nation’s malt needs may rise to 3.5 mln tonnes. Chinese malt output is currently about 3.6 mln tonnes per year, of which 500,000 tonnes wheat malt. Chinese malting capacity amounted to 4.6 mln tonnes in 2009 and will reach 5.36 mln tonnes this year after further expansions.

Most malthouses, also in the interior, have been modernized in recent years; however, market circumstances do not allow the industry to work at full capacity, ownership and political circumstances make it possible that factories continue to exist in spite of frequent work interruptions.

The nation’s malt exports were 267,000 tons in 2009, almost exclusively to Southeast Asian countries. Competition is tough in export and domestic markets, the entry of the large international brewing groups into the Chinese market has changed procurement procedures, just as elsewhere in the world.

Analysts said any increase of the Chinese barley production is hardly possible, therefore imports must rise, an estimate is 2.0 mln tonnes in 2010. Nevertheless, malt share in the beer ...More Info

The Brewers Association of the US said on March, 8 the nation’s craft brewing industry grew 7.2% by volume and 10.3% by dollars last year (compared to growth in 2008 of 5.9% by volume and 10.1% by dollars).

The estimated volume sold by the US craft brewers in 2009 was 9,115,635 barrels (10.67 mln hl) versus 8,501,713 barrels in 2008. Overall, US beer sales were down 2.2% (approximately 5 million barrels) in 2009.

Imported beer sales were down 9.8% in 2009, equating to a loss of 2.8 million barrels.

In 2009, craft brewers represented 4.3 percent of volume and 6.9 percent of retail dollars for the total U.S. beer category. With the total U.S. beer industry representing an estimated retail dollar value of $101 billion, the Brewers Association estimates the actual dollar sales figure from craft brewers in 2009 was $7 billion, up from $6.3 billion in 2008.

The total number of U.S. craft brewers grew from 1,485 to 1,542 in 2009, the highest total since before Prohibition.

AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, is likely to buy the 50 percent it does not own of Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo this year for around $10.8 billion, broker Evolution Securities said on March, 8.

According to Evolution Securities, a Modelo deal could follow Heineken's acquisition of Mexico's other big brewer FEMSA Ceverza in January, and Modelo is viewed as the more attractive brewer.

"We believe that a deal is likely to be announced this year ... We believe that a Modelo acquisition would provide a catalyst for outperformance," said analyst Andrew Holland in a broker's note this week.

Modelo, which brews Corona beer, controls 58 percent of the world's sixth largest beer market, Mexico, compared to FEMSA's 42 percent, and accounts for 88 percent of Mexico's beer export market compared to FEMSA's 12 percent, the broker said.

AB InBev gained its 50.2 percent economic stake and 43.9 percent voting stake in Modelo after InBev's acquisition of Anheuser-Busch in late 2008. The controlling shareholders of Modelo are several families of the founders of the various brewers which now make up the Mexican brewer.

The broker says that assuming a takeover Enterprise Value/Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization multiple of 11.6, the same as the ...More Info

The Boston Beer Company, Inc., United States’ largest craft brewer by sales volume, reported a fourth quarter core product depletions increase of 5% and a core product shipments increase of 5%.

The brewer’s net income for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $7.5 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, an increase of $3.9 million, or $0.27 per diluted share, from the fourth quarter of 2008, primarily as a result of increased core shipments and improved gross margins.

Net revenue for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $107.2 million, an increase of $3.4 million, or 3%, over the same period last year, primarily due to core volume gains. For the twelve months ended December 26, 2009, net revenue increased by 4% to $415.1 million and the company's earnings per diluted share were $2.17, an increase of $1.61 compared to 2008, which included the impact of the product recall initiated in April 2008. Excluding the previously recorded impact of the product recall, earnings per share for 2009 increased $0.77, or 55%, compared to 2008.

Jim Koch, Chairman and Founder of the Company, commented, "We reported 5% depletions growth in the fourth quarter, bringing depletions growth for the second half of 2009 to 6%, as compared ...More Info

Dutch brewing giant Heineken N.V. announced on March, 8 that, in connection with the intended acquisition of FEMSA Cerveza (Beer) that was announced on 11 January 2010, it will repurchase its own shares up to a maximum value of €100 million during the next three months.

These shares are intended to be delivered to Fomento Económico Mexicano, S.A.B. de C.V. (“FEMSA”) under the terms of the Allotted Share Delivery Instrument (the “ASDI”) to be concluded between Heineken N.V. upon the completion of the acquisition of Femsa Cerveza, Heineken said.

The ASDI sets forth the terms under which Heineken N.V. will deliver approximately 29 million Allotted Shares to FEMSA in two instalments per year over a period of not more than five years. Heineken has the option to accelerate the delivery of the shares at its discretion. For this first phase, Heineken has mandated a bank to repurchase Heineken N.V. shares in the open market on Heineken’s behalf, starting 8 March 2010 up to and including 8 June 2010, allowing the execution of share repurchases also during closed periods.

EU’s present-day malting capacities are estimated at around 9.7 mln tonnes, an analysts’ research note communicated earlier this month.

The Union’s theoretical demand of malting barley is about 12.1 mln tonnes, however, usage of capacity is estimated at 80-85%, which reduces the barley demand to round about 10 mln tonnes.

Maltsters will work with carry-over stocks of the good and cheap crop of 2009 well into the new campaign. It seems, though, that the effect of the large carry-over is overestimated, industry experts said.

Shippers hope to export good quantities of old crop malting barley in the coming months, though many of the unsold stocks have too low protein contents, market sources reported.

Most of all, maltsters will want to secure carry-over stocks also for the crop year of 2011/12, when a further acreage reduction and price increase are threatening. Therefore the malting barley demand of crop 2010 may be somewhere between 8 and 9 mln tons, analysts estimate.

Yang Shengli Liu Zhongshan, Chi Shengzhou, He Sheng, Meng Qingwei, Liu Congcong, Lin Yi and He Guoqing

J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 361–367, 2009 ABSTRACT
This study used a recombinant Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain, which expressed both beta-glucanase enzyme and reduced Proteinase A expression during wort fermentations. The genetic stability and fermentation features of the strain were examined. The recombinant strain’s proteinase A activity was reduced compared to the parent strain; beta-glucanase was produced throughout the fermentation. The fermentation with the recombinant S. cerevisiae strain exhibited a larger reduction in beta-glucan content than what was observed with the control strain, with beta-glucan degradation above 80%. The foam stability period was reduced when the beer produced by the recombinant S. cerevisiae was stored for 3 months. SDS-PAGE analysis of the beer proteins indicated that lipid transfer protein 1 had disappeared. Fermentation studies indicated that based on the parameters examined, this recombinant strain was suitable for industrial beer production. Key words: draft beer, foam, beta-glucanase, proteinase A, recombinant S. cerevisiae.
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