29th Mar 2007 08:00
SABMiller PLC29 March 2007 29 March 2007 SABMiller announces new brewery investment in Russia SABMiller plc, one of the world's leading brewers, announces that its Russianoperations will invest approximately US$170 million in the construction of a newbrewery outside the city of Ulyanovsk, which is located approximately 1000kilometres East of Moscow. The city of Ulyanovsk, which lies on the Volga river,enjoys good road and rail links and is home to a number of raw materialsuppliers. The new brewery, which will have an initial capacity of 3 million hectolitres,is expected to be operational in early 2009 and will complement the group'sexisting brewery in Kaluga, which is located some 180 kilometres south west ofMoscow. SABMiller's business in Russia has enjoyed compound annual volume growthof approximately 30% over the last 5 years, and its Kaluga site has now beenexpanded to a capacity of 6 million hectolitres. Both breweries will produceSABMiller's Russian brands, including Zolotaya Bochka ("Golden Barrel"), MillerGenuine Draft and Velkopopovicky Kozel; which together comprise 3 of Russia'stop 10 leading brands in the premium segment. Alan Clark, managing director of SABMiller Europe, commented: "Russia remains a strategically important market for SABMiller and thisinvestment will enable us to maintain our strong growth profile in the premiumsegment, whilst optimising our transport costs and at the same time improvingour service levels to distributors and big retailers." SABMiller's current market share in Russia is 6% on a volume basis, or anestimated 15% of industry profitability. In the year to March 2006, the companygenerated volume growth of 14% in Russia, twice the rate of the market. Ends Notes to editors: SABMiller plc is one of the world's largest brewers with brewing interests ordistribution agreements in over 60 countries across six continents. The group'sbrands include premium international beers such as Miller Genuine Draft, PeroniNastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as an exceptional range of marketleading local brands. Outside the USA, SABMiller plc is also one of the largestbottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world. In the year ended 31 March 2006, the group reported US$15,307 million in revenueand profit before tax of $2,453 million. SABMiller plc is listed on the Londonand Johannesburg stock exchanges. This announcement is available on the company website: www.sabmiller.com ----------------- ----------------------- ------------------Enquiries:----------------- ----------------------- ------------------ SABMiller plc Tel: +44 20 7659 0100 Sue Clark Director of Corporate Affairs Tel: +44 20 7659 0184 Kelly Mulvey Senior Manager, Investor Relations Tel: +44 20 7659 0176 Nigel Fairbrass Head of Media Relations Tel: +44 7799 894265 This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or thesolicitation of an offer to buy or acquire securities of SABMiller plc (the"Company") or any of its affiliates in any jurisdiction or an inducement toenter into investment activity. This document includes "forward-looking statements". These statements maycontain the words "anticipate", "believe", "intend", "estimate", "expect" andwords of similar meaning. All statements other than statements of historicalfacts included in this announcement, including, without limitation, thoseregarding the Company's financial position, business strategy, plans andobjectives of management for future operations (including development plans andobjectives relating to the Company's products and services) are forward-lookingstatements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks,uncertainties and other important factors that could cause the actual results,performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different fromfuture results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by suchforward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based onnumerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future businessstrategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future.These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement.The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate anyupdates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in thisannouncement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regardthereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any suchstatement is based. Any information contained in this announcement on the priceat which the Company's securities have been bought or sold in the past, or onthe yield on such securities, should not be relied upon as a guide to futureperformance. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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