Imported Lagers

SABMiller Plc, the world’s second- biggest brewer by volume, said first-half beer sales rose as gains in Asia and Africa more than offset declines in Latin America and Europe.

The quantity of lager sold increased 1 percent in the six months ended Sept. 30, excluding the effect of acquisitions, London-based SABMiller said today. That beat the 0.5 percent median estimate of 10 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

SABMiller is among brewers seeking growth in developing markets and through takeovers to combat sluggish consumer spending in Europe. Sales declined “marginally” in Latin America and slid 5 percent in Europe, while gaining 10 percent in Asia and 7 percent in Africa, the company said.

The brewer’s third-biggest market of South Africa, which contributes about 23 percent of revenue, “was the star of the show,” bolstered by the effects of the World Cup soccer tournament, said Simon Hales, a London-based analyst at Evolution Securities. “A big, positive swing” in Europe in the second quarter, bolstered by Russia, also helped.

SABMiller rose as much as 16 pence, or 0.8 percent, to 2,075.5 pence and was up 0.2 percent as of 12:45 p.m. in London trading. The stock has gained 13 percent this year, valuing the company at 32.7 billion pounds ($52 billion).

Latin American Decline

Latin American volume fell in the second quarter, reversing a 1 percent increase in the first three months of the year. The decline was led by Colombia, where volume dropped 7 percent, hurt by price increases, poor weather and five “dry days” around the country’s elections in May and June, the company said.

“My worries are that Latin America has got worse,” as “that’s their biggest single profit contributor right now,” Hales said. “There’s going to be a bit of caution around that.”

First-half results were helped by price increases, “some raw material cost reductions” and “strengthening of key operating currencies against the U.S. dollar,” SABMiller said. The company, which said it has continued to invest in marketing, reports earnings figures on Nov. 18.

“You may get a little bit of tweaking up of analyst numbers on the foreign exchange movements in the last weeks, but I don’t think there’s anything which would make me change my top-line numbers or margin estimates,” said Hales, who recommends buying SABMiller stock and predicts the shares will reach 2,100 pence.

Beer volume in Africa rose 11 percent when including figures from Zimbabwe, SABMiller said. The company said it’s resuming reporting of sales from the country following the stabilization of its economy.