SABMiller earnings up 12%

London - Strong growth in Africa and Latin America helped global brewer SABMiller [JSE:SAB] offset a fall in beer drinking in Europe and North America, as the Peroni and Grolsch beermaker beat forecasts with a 12% rise in full-year earnings.

“Trading conditions are expected to be broadly unchanged with further growth in our developing markets but no more than modest improvement in consumer spending in some more developed economies,” SABMiller said on Thursday.

The world’s second biggest brewer earns 70% of its profit from fast-growing emerging markets, which helps insulate it from tough mature markets where hard-pressed consumers are economising at the bar and drinking less beer at home.

The London-based brewer, which bought Foster’s in December with its near-half share of the Australian beer market, was boosted by strong markets in Colombia and Peru in Latin America and in countries such as Tanzania and Zambia in Africa.

SABMiller said input costs, such as for barley, glass and aluminium, will tick higher this year to see a mid-single digit percent rise. Its 2011/12 operating margin rose 10 basis points to 17.9% after the group forecast broadly flat margins.

The brewer, which has expanded rapidly over the past two decades from its South African roots, reported adjusted earnings per share of 214.8 US cents for its year to end-March, compared with a company-compiled consensus of 209 cents.

It raised its year dividend 12% to 91c.

Revenue rose 11% to $31.4bn and operating profit, or EBITA, was up 12% at $5.6bn, while underlying annual beer volumes rose 3%.

Among its rivals, world No. 1 Anheuser-Busch InBev has been upbeat about its two key markets of the United States and Brazil, while Europe-focused Carlsberg and Heineken have turned more positive after first-quarter trading despite tough trading in the eurozone region.

SABMiller came under some criticism last month when it announced that chief executive Graham Mackay would move up to become executive chairperson, flying in the face of a British corporate governance code which says chief executives should not go on to become chairperson.