Belgium: InBev's first-half beer volume sales up 4%

Beer volume sales of the world's brewing giant, InBev, are expected to rise by about 4 % in the first half of the year as robust growth in Latin America compensates for a decline in the more mature U.S. and West European markets, Reuters commented on July 12. Belgian brewery giant InBev SA is expected to report on July 14 before the market opens a slowdown in first half organic beer volume growth from the first quarter, as a challenging trading environment lingers.

The world's biggest brewer by volume with brands such as Stella Artois and Beck's is seen reporting sale of 91 million hectolitres for the six months, according to the average estimate in a Reuters survey of six analysts. The numbers provided by the analysts ranged from 88.4 million to 95.7 million hectolitres. Described as organic or internal, they exclude recent acquisitions and other items.

Although analysts use varying pro forma figures for the same period last year, most of them predicted a rise of about 4 percent -- a forecast that resembles a vague one given by InBev when it published its trading update for the first quarter in April. InBev publishes its trading update on Thursday at 0500 GMT.

Most of the growth is likely to come from AmBev , the Brazilian brewer that InBev of Belgium bought last year to become the biggest in the industry. "AmBev is really the engine," said Petercam's Peter De Neve. If AmBev's soft drinks business were to be included, volume sales would exceed 100 million hectolitres.

In a research note, Exane BNP Paribas analyst Nikolaas Faes expected AmBev's Brazilian home market to grow by 12 percent, faster than any other market in the world.

Petercam's De Neve said AmBev had probably benefited from the fact that rival Schincariol was distracted by a tax fraud scandal. "Life is a little easier for them (AmBev)," he said. Growth is seen as slower in other emerging markets.

Delta Lloyd's Richard Withagen predicted that volumes in Central and Eastern Europe would grow by 4.5 % and in the Asia Pacific by 2 %. He expected North America to fall the most, down 5 %, followed by Western Europe with a decline of 4 percent. No analyst expected InBev to confirm reports that it was close to buying St. Petersburg-based brewer Tinkoff for about $200 million.

Earlier this month, Heineken bought Russia's Stepan Razin, heightening expectations of further consolidation in a country that has become the world's fifth biggest beer market after China, the United States, Germany and Brazil.

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