17th Jan 2008 07:01
SABMiller PLC17 January 2008 17 January 2008 SABMiller plc Trading Update SABMiller plc today issues its interim management statement for the group'sthird quarter and for the nine months ended 31 December 2007 which alsorepresents a trading update for the same period. The calculation of organicgrowth rates shown below excludes volumes for acquired businesses for the first12 months after an acquisition. The group's lager volume growth was 7% for the third quarter. On an organicbasis, lager volumes for the third quarter grew by 4%, and 9% for the year todate. Revenue continues to benefit from price increases which have offset theimpact of higher input costs. The underlying financial performance of the grouphas been in line with our expectations outlined at the time of the interimresults announcement. Results for the quarter in US dollars have been positivelyaffected by the stronger Colombian peso, South African rand and certain Europeancurrencies against the US dollar. In Latin America, lager volumes grew by 4% in the quarter following high growthin the comparative period. Lager volumes were up 6.5% year to date. In Colombia,lager volumes have grown 2% in the quarter, reflecting difficult tradingconditions and bad weather impacting demand and distribution. In Peru, thirdquarter volumes were up 5% in an increasingly competitive market. Europe achieved lager volume growth of 4% during the quarter, over a comparativeperiod that benefited from a mild winter, with year to date growth of 9%.Quarterly volume growth was strong in Romania with volumes up 18%, and gooddomestic volume growth of 6% was achieved in Poland and 7% in Russia, whilstdomestic volumes in the Czech Republic declined by 3%. Miller's third quarter domestic sales to retailers (STRs) were 1.5% above theprior year after adjusting for the number of trading days in the period (3.1%unadjusted). Adjusted STRs of Miller Lite were up 1.9% in the three-month periodand 2% year to date. Adjusted STRs of the worthmore brand portfolio grew by 30%in the quarter. Miller increased domestic net revenue per barrel by 4.3% in thequarter, reflecting strong pricing, reduction in promotions and favourable brandmix. Miller's domestic trading-day-adjusted STRs for the year to date grew by4.4% (1.4% organically, excluding Sparks and Steel Reserve, acquired in August2006). Our Africa and Asia business delivered organic growth of 8% in lager volumes inthe quarter and 18% year to date. Organic growth in China was 7% in thethree-month period following recent price increases and reflecting slower marketgrowth whilst India volumes were up 20%. In Africa (excluding Zimbabwe) lagervolumes on an organic basis grew by some 5% in the quarter and 5% year to date,with good volume growth in Tanzania, Botswana and Mozambique. South Africa Beverages lager volumes were down by 0.4% during the quarter,reducing year to date volume growth to 1%. Lager volumes were impacted by anincrease in competitive activity and continuing supply chain challenges duringnew brand and pack introductions. Soft drinks volumes increased by 6% in thequarter and year to date were up 9% on the prior year. On 21 December 2007 SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company announced thesigning of the definitive transaction agreement for the combination of the USand Puerto Rico operations of Miller Brewing Company and Coors Brewing Companyinto a joint venture. The closing of the transaction remains subject toclearance from US competition authorities, certain other regulatory clearancesand third-party consents. During the quarter a charge of US$19 million has beenrecorded by Miller Brewing Company for staff retention arrangements and has beentreated as an exceptional item. The group expects to record further charges inthe final quarter and up to completion of the transaction, which is notanticipated to occur before mid-2008. These amounts are included in thepreviously announced estimates of costs associated with the joint venture. On 7 January 2008 SABMiller plc announced its cash offer for all the issued andoutstanding shares in Royal Grolsch NV, which is supported by the supervisoryand management boards of Royal Grolsch. The offer will be considered at anextraordinary general meeting of Royal Grolsch shareholders on 28 January.SABMiller has an irrevocable undertaking to accept the offer from shareholdersrepresenting some 37% of the shares, and as at 7 January 2008 SABMiller hadacquired a further 13.52%. The first closing date of the offer is 5 February2008. Ends About SABMiller plc 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 2007, the group reported US$3,154 million adjustedpre-tax profit and revenue of US$18,620 million. SABMiller plc is listed on theLondon and Johannesburg stock exchanges. This announcement is available on the company website: www.sabmiller.com High resolution images are available for the media to view and download free ofcharge from www.sabmiller.com or www.newscast.co.uk Enquiries:----------------- -------------------------------- --------------------- SABMiller plc Tel: +44 20 7659 0100 Sue Clark Director of Corporate Affairs Tel: +44 20 7659 0184 Gary Leibowitz Senior Vice President, Investor Tel: +44 20 7659 0174 Relations 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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