To critics it’s an overpriced pint of fizz, but legions of UK drinkers can’t get enough of Peroni Nastro Azzurro.
The premium lager drink helped SABMiller to an 8% rise in sales in the 12 months to the end of March, defying wider trends that have seen consumers look for cut-price booze wherever possible.
The brewing giant is looking to emerging markets for its most explosive growth, but elsewhere it is ticking along.
Martin Deboo at Investec said in a note today that “emerging market growth remains compelling”.
African sales are up 14%, but developed markets, he writes, “remain soft”.
Overall there was a 3% rise in its beer volumes in the first three months of 2012 as growth in the emerging markets of Latin America, Africa and Asia offset declines in Europe and North America.
The brewer added that beer volumes at its newly-acquired Foster’s Australian business dipped 4% in the first three months of ownership in a tough, domestic market.
Yesterday, Heineken reported a higher-than-expected 4.7% rise in its underlying first-quarter beer volumes, sending its shares to a four-year high, but higher costs saw profits decline slightly.
