Beer consumption in North America and Europe may be falling, but folks in Africa and Latin America are apparently putting back a few more than they used to because the folks at the London-based SABMiller were singing the praises of those two regions to shareholders on Thursday.

Reuters reports that the brewer’s annual earnings actually went up 12 percent (to $5.6 billion in pre-tax profits) and that 70 percent of the SABMiller profits came from “fast-growing emerging markets.” The specific countries in the world beer market that helped boost SABMiller in those regions are Latin America’s Colombia and Peru as well as the African nations of Tanzania and Zambia.Continue reading...

* SABMiller and Asahi are eyeing Fosters (sending shares higher), but no formal bids have been placed.

* Morgan Stanley is the first Wall Street firm to offer research-on-the-go via Apple's app store.

* PepsiCo tries to rekindle demand for its Pepsi Max low-calorie brand.

* Tesco tests UK's first drive-through supermarket.

* UBS features astronaut Neil Armstrong, starchitect Zaha Hadid and fast cars in new advertising campaign.

* HP is hoping to outbid Dell for 3Par with today's $1.3 billion bid.

* HSBC is in talks for a $6.8 billion majority stake in South Africa's Nedbank.Continue reading...

Ahead of spinning off its global wine assets from its beer division next year, Australia's Foster's Group this week renamed its global wine business, the second-largest in the world.

Now known as Treasury Wine Estates ahead of the split, its 50 wine brands include Penfolds, Lindemans, Wolf Blass, Rosemount, Stags' Leap, Wynn, Beringer and Castello di Gabbiano.

An impressive collection, to be sure, but one that also brought less than impressive financial results to Foster's, one of Australia's iconic brands.Continue reading...