Wednesday, May 16, 2007

InBev Stock Skyrockets on German Market Outlook


(BS) Brussels, Belgium - International beverage conglomerate InBev, brewer of Bass Ale, Pilsner Urquell and other beers, announced that stronger than expected sales in the German market are expected to lift 2nd Quarter revenues. "Western Germany has seen a large growth in sales in the last week. While we're not sure why, it has been significant enough that we felt the need to adjust our earnings expectations for Q2. Our analysis of the trend indicates that it may last well into the 3rd quarter," said Dirk DeKroonk, CFO (Chief Frothiness Officer).

He admitted that the roots of the shift have eluded the company, "There was a major spike on Saturday, but this level dipped only slightly through midweek. The obvious legs of the trend exceed the normal May stag party, Champion's League Final, FA Cup Final, etc. that we've come to expect from this market. Clearly this is an unprecedented event. Originally we thought it might be the aftermath of the Nowitzki tank-job in the NBA playoffs, but Germans have never shown the ability to care about basketball for consecutive days."

Analysts, however, feel that this is a sign of poor market research. "This is worrying on two levels. First, InBev was suprised by extremely strong Czech Republic sales in March, and now they cannot explain this event. This is indicative of a large-scale shift in German drinking habits, possibly as a result of labor worries," said Seth Bullseetmon, Piper Jaffrey senior beverage analyst. "I have to rate InBev a hold on a macro-economic level and a buy on a micro-economic level -- especially at McLaughlin's on Two-For-One Thursdays."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing you helped with those sales figures.

jtingermany said...

i did and i will!