E-Malt.com News article: 709

Colombia's largest brewer, Bavaria, has registered a net profit of 336.2 billion pesos ($113.8 million) in 2002, up 79.4% in peso terms versus its 2001 net profit, the Securities Superintendency said on Wednesday. Bavaria, Latin America's fourth-largest brewer, made profits of 187.4 billion pesos ($62.4 million) in 2001.

The company, which controls about 95% of Colombia's beer market and has been expanding aggressively in Latin America under a $1 billion plan, said it would propose increasing its annual dividend by 6% to 402.9 pesos (13 cents) per share during a shareholders' meeting on March 21, Reuters reported.

Shares of Bavaria, which are among the most liquid in Colombia's small stock exchange, fell 0.72% to 13,850 pesos. A Bavaria spokeswoman said the better 2002 results were within the firm's expectations. More details will be provided on Thursday, the spokeswoman said.

Controlled by Colombian tycoon Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Bavaria provides 70% of Panama's beer market via Cerveceria Nacional, and last year bought 24.5 percent of Peru's only brewer, Union de Cervecerias Backus & Johnston. It also owns 72.5 percent of another Ecuadorean brewer, Cerveceria Andina SA, giving it about 92 percent of Ecuador's beer market.

In 2002, Bavaria did not increase its annual dividends because of poor results due largely to a strike in 2001. The company was founded by German immigrants in 1889. ($US1=2,951 pesos)


27 February, 2003