SABMiller Lifted by Africa and Latin America’s Beer Thirst

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.

SABMiller's beer brands include Grolsch, Peroni, Pilsner Urquell, Miller, Miller Lite, Miller Genuine Draft and more than 150 local beer brands. Late last year the brewer bought Fosters for $10.3 billion, a deal that gives it almost half of the Australian beer market.

The Financial Times points out how much the beer industry has changed in the past year, noting that a Chinese joint venture between SABMiller and China Resources sold more beer last year than was sold in the entire country of Germany. However, beer is still priced fairly low in China so that success didn’t help the SABMiller bottom line as much as it could have if it were located elsewhere.

"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," the brewer said at its annual shareholders meeting, according to Reuters.

The company also reiterated its commitment to agriculture and affordability at the meeting, citing the example of its recently launched Impala beer in Mozambique — the world's first cassava-based lager.

More on SABMiller's fiscal year 2012 results in the videos below: