Brewers Fall After Coca-Cola HBC Reduces Forecast (Update1)
June 13 (Bloomberg) -- Brewers from InBev NV to Heineken NV to Carlsberg A/S fell in European trading after Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Co. cut its profit forecast, saying emerging- market consumers are reducing their spending as inflation soars.
Athens-based Coca-Cola Hellenic bottles sodas, waters, juices and other non-alcoholic beverages in 27 European countries and Nigeria and generates more than half its revenue in developing nations, from Belarus to Slovenia.
Surging food and fuel prices curbed consumer spending, most severely in Italy, Ukraine and Romania, the bottler said. Record oil prices have also led to increased packaging and distribution costs. Per-share profit this year will rise between 5 percent and 8 percent, Athens-based Coca-Cola Hellenic said, below its prior prediction for a gain of 12 percent to 15 percent.
``This is bad for brewers and soft drink makers,'' said Marcel Hooijmaijers, an analyst at Landsbanki Kepler in Amsterdam. ``Emerging markets were seen by investors as the place for strong growth, but they must have forgotten that there are also risks attached.''
InBev, which gets more than two-thirds of its sales in emerging markets, fell 78 cents, or 1.6 percent, to 49.43 euros in Brussels. Heineken, for whom central and eastern Europe provides most of its revenue growth, slid 80 cents, or 2.2 percent, to 35.67 euros in Amsterdam.
Carlsberg declined 2.5 percent in Copenhagen. The brewer generates a third of sales from eastern Europe.
Coca-Cola Hellenic, the world's second-biggest bottler of Coke beverages, fell 21 percent in Athens, the steepest decline since Bloomberg records began in 1992. |
