Tiger brewer roars ahead on earnings

Photo by: Bloomberg
A Tiger beer brewery stands in Singapore. Indochina sales have soared over the last year.

via CAAI

Sunday, 14 November 2010 17:14 Jeremy Mullins

ASIA Pacific Brewery – the brewer of Tiger, Anchor, and ABC stout – saw its share price rise by one percent to S$18.20 (US$14.02) over the last week of Singapore trading, while releasing its 12 month results on Friday.

The firm claimed results from Indochina, including Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, constituted over half of its overall profits. The brewery generated S$242 million operating in Indochina over the last year, up 47 percent on the year previous.

Although it did not separate results for the three countries, it pointed to Vietnam as being particularly strong.

Competitor Carlsberg A/B, the 50 percent owner of Cambrew Ltd, closed out the week at 559 krone (US$107.29), some 6.5 percent lower than its Monday open in Copenhagen trading.

The firm had claimed strong sales in Cambodia in its third quarter update released on Tuesday, but overall results came in below some analysts predictions. Cambrew is the Sihanoukville-based brewery behind Angkor, Bayon, and Klang beers.

Meanwhile, Malayan Banking Bhd – which aims to have eight branches in Cambodia at the end of the year – finished up 1.7 percent to close at 9.20 ringgit (US$2.96) on the Bursa Malaysia last week.

The firm had traded as high as 9.38 ringgit on Wednesday, as it issued a release in response to Malaysian media reports that it was looking to purchase firm OSK Holdings.

OSK Holdings Bhd had a strong week on the Bursa Malaysia, finishing at 1.92 ringgit on Friday, a 23 percent increase on the week’s open of 1.56 ringgit.

OSK – which owns approved Cambodian underwriter OSK Indochina – also issued a release last week in response to the article, claiming it was not in “serious” negotiations on a takeover.

Another Malaysia-listed bank, Public Bank Bhd, saw its share price remain steady last week at 12.78 ringgit. Public Bank is the owner of Cambodian Public Bank, which was the largest domestic lender in 2009, according to data.