Belgium: Reversing beer sales is a pride issue for InBev

Belgian-Brazilian brewer InBev SA said June 13 that it was a "matter of pride" to reverse flagging beer sales in Western Europe.

Despite owning brands such as Stella Artois, Beck's and Leffe, falling sales of beer and soft drinks in Europe and North America have undermined InBev's strong growth in the rest of the world.

"We absolutely need to reverse the declining trends," the company's Western European president Stefan Descheemaeker told reporters. "It is more than just the figures. It is a matter of pride."

He said his region contributed less than 1 percent of InBev's earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization growth last year - but expects the division to generate more than 1 percent in 2006.

In 2005, it saw net profit jump 26 percent and last month announced that first quarter net profit nearly tripled thanks to strong results from emerging markets.

Signaling that future profit growth would come from slimming down operations, InBev plans to reorganize by cutting jobs in five European countries, adding to job losses in France and Belgium announced late last year.

It wants to consolidate its financial operations into a single center in Hungary and support services into a new Czech base.