Goat pilsner helps SABMiller buck trend with profit rise

Shares in international brewer SABMiller rose more than 6% after it said first-half profits grew by 12%, driven by a particularly strong performance in Latin America.

The group, which spent $11.8 billion taking over Australian brewer Foster’s last year, said that it had contributed significantly to the growth.

In the UK the group bucked the trend, with beer sales up 5% against a national fall of 4.6% in the six months to September.

Gary Haigh, UK managing director, said: “That was pretty good given the wettest summer on record, England’s shortlived and unattractive performance in the Euros, and Boris’s great job of keeping people out of the centre of London for the entire first week of the Olympics.”

He said the volume growth had been driven by Peroni, which grew by mid-single digits, and Pilsner Urquell, which grew by double digits. The other big growth came from Kozel (the Goat), a Czech pilsner, which has proved particularly popular in hotspots like Clapham and Hammersmith.

SABMiller’s headline profits rose to $2.76 billion on sales up 11% at $17.5 billion.

The dividend goes up 12% to 24 cents a share.

The company said: “We have recently seen moderation of economic growth in some countries, but the potential of the principal emerging markets in which we operate remains strong.”