Drinkers desert Stella

Stella Artois brewer InBev said today that beer sales plummeted during the sweltering summer as drinkers turned their backs on the “reassuringly expensive” lager.

InBev said it suffered a bad summer in the UK after volumes slumped during the July heatwave, with Stella particularly badly hit.

The downturn was in stark contrast to the success of ISEQ-listed C&C's Magners, with demand for ice-cold cider so high during the summer that the company struggled to keep up.

Analysts have already suggested that the growing popularity of Magners also damaged sales of Guinness, as demand for the ‘black stuff’ in Ireland wavered.

Despite its problems in the UK, Belgo-Brazilian InBev posted profits of €479m in the third quarter from July to September, a third higher than in the same period last year.

Beer volumes around the world were up 4.6% following strong performances in central and eastern Europe and Latin America.

Volumes in the UK fell 11.5% because of a bad July, while worldwide volumes of Stella declined 6.4% as a downturn in Britain offset good results elsewhere.

Sales in Germany were slightly down in the quarter as InBev suffered a hangover following the World Cup. Earlier this week, rival brewer Scottish & Newcastle said an overhang of stock following the tournament hit demand for fresh supplies.

InBev claimed the German decline was in line with the industry, as European drinkers gradually turn away from beer, but this football season was a high-scoring one for most other brewers in the region.

SABMiller saw the World Cup help push European lager sales up 8% by volume during the first six months of the year. Dutch brewer Heineken and Denmark’s Carlsberg also saw sales surge across Europe during the same period.

InBev, the world’s largest brewer by volume, now focuses on four headline brands – Stella Artois, Beck’s, Leffe and Brahma – having turned away from an earlier strategy of “the world’s local brewer” that saw it push a wide variety of small-name beers.

Volumes of German beer Beck’s and Belgium beer Leffe were up 16.2% and 10.7% respectively thanks to strong growth in western Europe, but Brazil’s Brahma reported volume growth of just 2.7% after a slowdown in Central America.

Elsewhere, SABMiller reported a 29% rise in pre-tax profits in the six months to September 30 to £1.53bn (€1.2bn).

The company said: “We saw particularly strong lager growth in Europe, with market share gains in a number of countries buoyed by the World Cup.”

It also saw a strong performance in China.