ClickAJob News

Britain's biggest brewer, Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), has indicated that it expects to achieve increased sales in the Asian beer market in the future.

According to a senior company official, Asian beer sales currently account for just ten per cent of the group's overall revenue but are expected to grow quickly.

Rising incomes and changing attitudes to drinking in countries such as India are likely to fuel the rise, said S&N's managing director for Asia, John Hunt.

"They are similar in that they have strong GDP growth, greater purchasing power, a young demographic and a change in social attitudes toward drinking," Mr Hunt said, in comments reported by the Reuters news agency.

Mr Hunt, who made the remarks on the sidelines of a press conference held by Indian business partner United Breweries (UB), said that S&N's goal was to make Asia "a material part" of its operations.

News of S&N's Asian ambitions come after UB, which runs a joint venture with S&N, stressed that beer consumption in India is expected to grow in excess of 20 per cent annually. UB, India's leading beer maker, is now planning to invest money to expand its capacity in the growing market.

Earlier this month S&N warned that it would struggle to meet full-year sales targets after revealing bad weather hit UK beer sales.

Nonetheless strong growth in the Russian beer market offset the negative impact of weather conditions in the UK to drive S&N's pre-tax profits for the six months to June 30th to £191 million.

Yesterday Diageo, the world's largest alcoholic drinks group, reported a 13 per cent underlying rise in annual earnings, despite the impact of weak beer markets in the UK and Ireland.