|
 The maker of beers such as Peroni and Grolsch said on Thursday its
performance accelerated in the second quarter, with underlying
revenue rising 6 percent and beverage volume up 2 percent from the
prior year.
Fueled by strong gains in Africa and Latin America, and success in
selling more higher-priced drinks including Castle Lite in South
Africa and Cusquena in Peru, the results are an improvement from a 3
percent rise in revenue and flat volumes in the first quarter.
Yet SABMiller is being hammered by the weakness of various operating
currencies including the Colombian peso, Australian dollar and South
African rand, which make raw materials like barley and aluminum more
expensive for local units, and then reduces the value of those
units' revenues.
"It's a good business, but it's under an awful lot of pressure,"
Bernstein Research analyst Trevor Stirling said, adding that
currencies were a major reason for a decline in the share price
earlier this year.
Its shares had fallen 18 percent in the four months to
mid-September, when SABMiller revealed AB InBev's approach. Many
analysts say that decline had prompted AB InBev to finally launch a
takeover offer that had been speculated about for years.
On a reported basis, including the currency impact, revenue fell 12
percent to $10.0 billion and earnings before interest, tax and
amortization (EBITA) fell 11 percent to $2.9 billion in the six
months to Sept. 30.
SABMiller said growth would continue to be driven by developing
markets and its focus on more premium drinks, though foreign
exchange and higher raw material costs would still weigh on results.
It said it planned to deliver more than $430 million in annual
savings by the end of its fiscal year, on 31 March 2016. That is
ahead of its original target, for savings of $500 million by 2018.
"The SABMiller board does believe that our strategy would have
delivered further value to our shareholders over the long term.
However, AB InBev's offer secures that value today, which is why the
board unanimously recommended it," SABMiller Chief Executive Alan
Clark said on a conference call.
[to top of second column] |
The takeover of the company, one of the largest in corporate
history, is not expected to close until the second half of 2016, due
to various antitrust approvals needed.
In the meantime, SABMiller said it was committed to keeping
employees motivated, despite what Clark described as a general tone
of uncertainty among staff around future job security.
He said the combination of its African soft drink bottling assets
with those of Coca-Cola <KO.N>, a deal announced nearly a year ago,
was on track to complete in coming months. He declined to say what
would happen to the business after the takeover by AB InBev, which
serves as a bottler for PepsiCo.
He also told reporters it was too early to talk about SABMiller's
stakes in France's Castel Group and Turkey's Anadolu Efes or his own
career intentions following the takeover.
(Reporting by Martinne Geller; editing by Jason Neely and Susan
Thomas)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
