SABMiller Posts Robust African Interims

The world’s No.2 brewer, SABMiller, says it attained a robust feat in African markets where it has operations in the last six months ended September this year. “We achieved a strong performance across our African businesses…Despite current prevailing uncertainties about developing market economies, we remain confident in the long term growth prospects for the group,” Alan Clark, SABMiller CEO, said in a statement. Clark said in Africa, total volume growth in lagers surged 9 percent on an organic basis. This was in view of robust growth in many of the company’s critical markets. In Tanzania, lager volumes soared 6 percent, boosted by “double digit” growth in Castle Lite sales. In Zambia, the better availability of the company’s brands supported a 13 percent lager volume growth. Accessibility of the company’s drinks in the landlocked east African country was boosted by the commissioning of the Ndola brewery. Business in Mozambique got better in the second quarter of this year with lager volume growth gaining 4 percent. In Nigeria, brewery enlargements continued to bolster strong volume growth, mainly because of the sustained achievements of Hero Lager. But tough economic conditions in Uganda and South Sudan led to declining volumes when compared to the previous reporting period. “Our associate Castel continued to deliver robust lager volume growth of 8% with Angola performing strongly during the period,” Clark said in a statement. South Africa’s net producer revenue (NPR) for the six months to September surged 7 percent on the back of strong volume growth.  Venture Africa