In June, August A. Busch IV, was honoured as the "Advertiser of the Year" at the 48th annual International Advertising Festival in Cannes, France. The International Advertising Festival - Cannes Lions - is to marketing professionals and admen what the Cannes Film Festival is to members of the fantasy industry. Despite the usual bickering and sneering (presumably by those who could not take home any of the coveted Kings of the Savannah) that there are campaigns which appeal to the jury and others which appeal to the consumer, the award is considered the most prestigious international honour in the advertising industry.
Over the past few years, Busch has become quite a regular face at Cannes.
Busch is the second representative of breing industry to receive the award.S.S..

Finally the Genesee Brewing Co. from Rochester, New York, finished their management buy-out. Eight former employees acquired the brewery at a price of USD 25.8 million, USD 14.8 million of which in cash. Although the new enterprise will sign as High Falls Brewing Company the Genesee brand is not intended to disappear from the market. The brand will be shown on every label, except from those of the new beer specialities. These will enter the market under the brand name High Falls.
The Pabst Brewing Co. had offered to acquire some of the Genesee beer brands in order to have them brewed somewhere else but that would have implied the closing of the Genesee brewery and the loss of 450 jobs. The new owners already announced to spend USD 3.9 million hectolitres and sales of USD 103.3 million.

Miller Brewing Co. reported that the work at the pilot brewery (worth: USD 4 million) incl. bottling hall of the Technical Centres, Milwaukee, USA, has been finished. The Miller Valley Brewery - that’s the name of this pilot brewery - has been conceived for batches up to 12 hectolitres. As Miller reported, now they are better able to force the product development. Might it be possible that the opening of the Miller Valley Brewery has a connection with the decision of the group to get rid of shares of some microbrewers from the USA? In december Miller reported that they had decided to sell the Selis brewery, Texas, and the brand Celis. If this works Miller only holds the brands Leinen-kugel and Henry Weinhard, generally known as microbrewers. They didn’t name an amount..

In Colombia the beverage production is concentrated upon some few enterprise groups. According to informations from the statistics board DANE for 1999 the Colombian beverage industry consisted of 165 enterprises. Altogether they produced beverages at a value of COP 3,378.1bn and invested COP 10.9 billion (average exchange in 2000: USD 1 = COP 2,087). According to DANE the output of the Colombian beverage industry decreased by 2.6% in 2000, after a reduction of 13% in 1999. Once again, the number of jobs shrank rather significantly.
In 1999 the sales of beer and soft drinks had been impacted by the general economic condition and by climatic influences. It is here where among others the "El Niño Southern Oscillation" (ENSO) has to be set out.3 million to USD 20.6 million (fob).5bn).5b)..

In an effort to reduce dependency on earnings from its African subsidiaries, South African Breweries seems to have thrown desiring glances across the Atlantic. According to a rumour published in the British Sunday Times of 12 August, SAB is in talks to buy Kaiser, Brazil’s second largest brewer with a market share of 13% in 2000 and an output of 11m hl beer. Kaiser has been struggling for some time. Last year its losses amounted to R$68m, 44% worse than in 1999. Since 1997, Kaiser has lost 2.6m hl of beer sales.
According to research by A.C.Nielsen, Brazilian beer sales in March were as follows: Skol 32.6%, Brahma 22.1%, Antarctica 15%, Kaiser 13.6%, Schincariol 8.9%, Bavaria 3.5% and others 4.3%. Kaiser is controlled by Coca-Cola..

On 12 April the Governor signed into law a bill (Senate Bill 156) that will allow micro-distillery pubs in the state of Colorado. Distillery pubs will be able to produce spirits and sell them at the licensed facility and one other location. Distilling your own booze seems to be the latest fad among US microbrewers if discussions at the IBS National Craft Brewers‘ Conference in Portland (see report) are anything to go by.

First-quarter net earnings at Anheuser-Busch rose 12.6 %, the company’s tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit earnings per share growth. For the quarter ending March 31, 2001, Anheuser-Busch reported net income of US$394.4m, or 43 cents per diluted share. In the same period a year ago, Anheuser-Busch reported net income of US$350.3m, or 38 cents a share. Sales grew to almost US$3.5 bn in the first quarter, up from US$3.3 bn a year ago. This surprised some analysts as the weather in March had been cool, holding down sales in many US states. At the annual meeting in Orlando, shareholders defeated proposals to phase out the use of genetically engineered crops.

It has not been a good first quarter for Miller Brewing Co. While Anheuser-Busch and Coors reported first quarter profits to be up, Miller announced an 18.4% drop to US$124m in operating profits compared to a year ago. Beer production fell 5.3% to 9.4m barrels. This comes after a so-so year 2000, during which Miller’s sales volume declined 2.6% to 40.6m barrels, partly due to price increases for its biggest selling brands Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and High Life. However, it was these price increases which helped to raise revenue 2.4% to US$4.25 bn. Operating income was also up 5.4% to US$543m. Despite the price increase, sales of Miller Lite, Millers No 1 brand, remained flat in 2000, while sales of Miller Genuine Draft (MGD), its No. 2 brand were down 4.8%. Sales of No.8%..

In April, Anheuser-Busch Cos. finally reached an agreement with the union representing more than 7,000 employees at its 12 US breweries. The agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters comes 2 - 1/2 years after contract talks reached an impasse and Anheuser-Busch unilaterally implemented terms. Under the new contract, the aver- age Anheuser-Busch employee would make more than $66,000 annually. Total compensation would average nearly $50 per hour. Employees had been averaging about $65,000 a year under the imposed terms, with pay and benefits at about $47 to $48 per hour, a spokesman for the company said. The agreement runs through February 2004.

Charles Oliver has joined Labatt Brewing Co as Vice-President of marketing. Previously he was with Buena Vista Home Entertainment Canada, a division of the Walt Disney Company.