SABMiller, the company behind Peroni and Grolsch, inched up 0.4% after its full-year results came in slightly ahead of market expectations. Revenue jumped 11% to $31.4bn (£20bn).
Pre-tax profit was up 55% but that was boosted by more than $1bn in one-off items, including the sale of its Russian and Ukranian businesses to Anadolu Efes in exchange for a stake in the business, and the refund of a fine in Europe. Adjusted pre-tax profit was up 13% at $5.1bn. Phil Carroll at Shore Capital notes that revenue was slightly ahead and profit was slightly behind expectations.
The brewer said strong growth in Africa and Latin America offset a fall in beer drinking in Europe and North America. There was little information on Foster's, which SABMiller bought at the end of 2011; analysts are hoping for more in the presentation. In its preliminary announcement, the company said:
The integration of the Foster's business has progressed very well to date despite the loss of some brand licences, which was a known risk at the time of acquisition.
In terms of analyst reaction, Carroll at Shore Capital has put his hold recommendation under review ahead of the presentation. He said:
Whilst the profit performance is slightly disappointing we believe the results in isolation do show operation gearing and good profit growth, which aids our more recent positive sentiment towards SAB as the valuation has come down materially.
The shares were reasonably volatile this morning – currently up 9p at £24.06 – dropping behind the rest of the FTSE 100, which is now up 0.7%.
