SABMiller logs sliding net profits amid takeover

LONDON

REUTERS Photo

British brewer SABMiller, fresh from agreeing to a vast $121-billion takeover from global leader Anheuser-Busch InBev, posted sliding first-half net profits on Nov. 12 on the back of the strong dollar.

Net profits, or earnings after taxation, fell 17 percent to $1.640 billion in the six months to the end of September, compared with $1.974 billion a year earlier, SABMiller said in a statement.

SABMiller, which also owns some 24 percent stake in Turkey’s Efes Pilsen, added however that earnings before interest, taxes and amortization advanced five percent to $2.92 billion. The measure excludes the effect of acquisitions and currency movements.

“We had a good first half, stripping out the effects of adverse exchange rates, with strong growth in Africa and Latin America,” said chief executive Alan Clark.

AB InBev clinched Nov. 11 a gigantic deal for SABMiller, its nearest rival, in the third-biggest takeover in global corporate history.

The blockbuster transaction, worth the equivalent of 112 billion euros including debt, will bring together InBev’s top lagers like Beck’s, Budweiser and Stella Artois, with SABMiller brands Foster’s, Grolsch and Peroni.

InBev will pay 44 per share in cash for SABMiller, which has also agreed to sell its 58-percent stake in U.S. unit MillerCoors for $12 billion to Molson Coors to help win regulatory approval.