LONDON MIDDAY BRIEFING: SABMiller, Diageo Fortunes Contrast

LONDON (Alliance News) - British drinks giants SABMiller and Diageo suffered contrasting fortunes in the first three months of 2015, with the brewing giant saying Thursday it was lifted by a return to growth in China while wine, beers and spirits company Diageo suffered a hit in the UK after the year-earlier period was lifted by strong buying ahead of an expected duty increase.

SABMiller, the brewer of a multitude of lagers including Grolsch, Peroni, and Coors Light, said group net producer revenue for the year to end-March rose 4% and beverage volume growth was 1%, helped by an improvement in the fiscal fourth quarter when revenue grew 6% and lager volume grew 2%.

Stagnant lager sales for most of the year due to weaker demand in emerging markets was offset by strong growth in soft drink sales, with volumes of these up 8% in both the fourth quarter and the year as a whole. However, SABMiller's lager brands also returned to growth in the fourth quarter led by strong growth in South Africa and a return to growth in China.

Diageo, meanwhile, said its net sales declined 0.7% on an organic basis in the three months to end-March, its fiscal third quarter, while volumes fell 0.8%, meaning organic net sales were down 0.3% and volumes down 1.7% in the first nine months of the financial year.

It was hit by the tough comparative figure in the UK, as well as a double-digit decline in Latin America where consumers are being hit by currency volatility and because some customers are holding high inventories. Asia Pacific continued to struggle after a decision to reduce the stock held by distributors there. This offset strong growth in Africa and a further improvement in North America that was driven by strong demand for Crown Royal Regal Apple, its Canadian whiskey infused with apple flavours. Sales of Smirnoff Red vodka continued to improve in the US, although this was offset by lower demand for Captain Morgan rum.

Its total net sales over the whole nine months rose 4.6% as acquisitions, notably of United Spirits, boosted revenue by GBP700 million, partly offset by a GBP298 million hit from adverse currency movements and a GBP28 million reduction due to disposals Diageo made.

SABMiller shares are up midday Thursday, while Diageo is down.

Consumer goods giant Unilever, meanwhile, is amongst the best-performers in the FTSE 100 as it reported a 12.3% increase in revenue in the first quarter of 2015 to EUR12.8 billion, with 10.6% coming from favourable currency movements.

Still, the maker of products including Lipton tea and Vaseline beauty products also reported 2.8% growth in sales excluding the impact of currency movements and acquisitions and disposals, driven by 5.4% growth in emerging markets, particularly in Africa and Southeast Asia and particularly for its foods products.

Analysts expressed concern about Unilever's growth potential in emerging markets going forward after the company said the picture was mixed, with India improving, China stabilising, but Brazil and Russia deteriorating.

The company was more positive. "Despite high levels of currency and commodity volatility, we are now starting to see more tailwinds than headwinds in our markets, and expect our initiatives to deliver a further improvement in volume growth in the remainder of the year," it said as it said its developed markets in Europe remain weak while a modest price-driven pickup in North America has been sustained.

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Markets: London's main stock indices are now lower in a quiet day in terms of economic data but with plenty of corporate news and broker rating changes to move individual stocks. The FTSE 100 touched a new record intraday high of 7,119.35 earlier in the session.

US stock futures point to a lower open on Wall Street. The DJIA and Nasdaq 100 are currently set to open down 0.3% and the S&P 500 down 0.4%.

FTSE 100: down 0.3% at 7,073.01
FTSE 250: down 0.5% at 17,782.39
AIM ALL-SHARE: up 0.1% at 747.44
GBP: up at USD1.4932
EUR: up at USD1.0729
GOLD: up at USD1,208.00 an ounce
OIL (Brent): down at USD62.36 a barrel
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Other Top Corporate News
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Housebuilder Persimmon said 2015 has got off to a strong start, with private sales rates and average selling prices continuing to rise after the strong growth it reported in 2014, although it warned the industry is struggling to get new planning permissions ahead of the UK General Election. The company said total forward sales revenue in the first 15 weeks of 2015, including legal completions taken so far this year, are up 7% at GBP2.00 billion, compared with GBP1.87 billion in the year earlier period.
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J Sainsbury is planning to convert the equivalent of around 40 supermarkets of shop space into non-food, The Daily Telegraph reported. Chief Financial Officer John Rogers said at an event at a south London store on Wednesday that the company has identified 1.5 million square feet of space across the UK, representing around 6% of its portfolio, that it no longer needs for food. It intends to use the space to sell its collection of own-brand non-food products, including kitchenware and homeware.
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ARM Holdings said it has struck a deal to acquire Wicentric and Sunrise Micro Devices for an undisclosed amount to boost its presence in the Internet of Things market. The semiconductor company said the intellectual property of both companies will be merged to form the ARM Cordio portfolio. Wicentric is a Bluetooth Smart stack and profile provider and Sunrise provides sub-one volt Bluetooth radio intellectual property.
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Emirates Airline is poised to pick Rolls-Royce Holdings' Trent 900 engines to power the airline’s latest batch of Airbus A380 aircraft, the Wall Street Jounral reports citing people familiar with the matter, a deal that would mark a breakthrough for the British company which has no current contracts with the growing airline. Emirates, the biggest operator of A380s, selected the GE, Pratt joint venture to power its first 90 A380 jets. In November 2013, the airline said it would buy 50 more A380 double-deckers, though it held off on making an engine decision. It has now opted for Rolls-Royce, the WSJ said, citing two of the people it quotes.
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The Los Angeles school district is to end its use of content provided by Pearson under the Common Core Technology Project, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The scheme, which had been projected to cost around USD1.3 billion, was aimed at providing every student in the school district with an iPad or laptop computer using voter-approved bonds. Apple Inc was providing the iPads to the district, with the curriculum provided by Pearson. But in a letter earlier this week, the Los Angeles Unified School District said it would halt new deliveries of the Pearson curriculum and will stop using Pearson products by June 30.
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Petra Diamonds said its results for the current financial year are expected to be below the range of current market estimates due to poorer diamond grades it is finding at one of its mines, although it reiterated it is trying to tackle the issue and expects grades at that mine to improve in coming quarters. The diamond miner is suffering lower run-of-mine grades at its Cullinanin mine in South Africa, an old mine where the production areas are increasingly mature and highly diluted and it's having to deal with high-density waste material.
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Telecom Plus said its profit in the recently-ended financial year will come in below its expectations due to energy price cuts it made in the fourth quarter and as warm weather cut energy usage by its customers.
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Debenhams reported a rise in profit for the first half of its financial year as sales grew following a revamp of its promotional strategy and service improvements. The department store operator said pretax profit grew to GBP88.9 million in the 26 weeks to February 28, up 4.3% from GBP85.2 million a year earlier, as revenue grew to GBP1.33 billion from GBP1.30 billion. Like-for-like sales were up 1.3%, it said. The company said that a refocus on promotional strategy resulted in a 9% increase in own brand full price sales, with tightly controlled stock and more flexible purchasing.
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WH Smith said its pretax profit ticked higher in the first half of its financial year, as its trading profit in both its travel and high-street divisions increased on the back of a big improvement in margins, despite total sales in the high-street arm falling. The FTSE 250-listed retailer said its pretax profit in the six months to the end of February rose 4.3% to GBP72 million from GBP69 million a year earlier. Revenue in the half fell slightly to GBP611 million from GBP613 million a year earlier, as sales in its travel division rose 7% but its high street division saw sales fall 5%. WH Smith hiked its interim dividend payout on the back of the results, up 12% to 12.1p.
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Russia and Kazakhstan-focused gold and silver miner Polymetal International said its first quarter production fell due to grade declines at its Dukat and Omolon mines and a temporary suspension at the Varvara site but maintained its production guidance for the year. Polymetal said its gold equivalent production was 299,000 ounces in the first quarter to the end of March, down 5% year-on-year. The company said this was primarily down to planned grade declines at the Dukat and Omolon sites and a temporary suspension of the float circuit at Varvara.
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Mothercare reported worldwide sales growth in its fourth quarter which it said is "in line" with its plan, but cautioned that global economic and foreign currency volatility will continue to challenge the international business. The retailer for parents and young children said worldwide sales grew 4.1% in the 11 weeks to March 28, and said international sales would have grown 11.4% had exchange rates remained constant, as currency continues to have an "adverse impact". It said the UK is beginning to "see some benefit" from initiatives taken over the year as total sales in the region grew 1.5% and like-for-like sales rose 5.1%.
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AIM Movers
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Madagascar Oil shares have nearly doubled after its development plan for the Tsimiroro oil and gas project in Madagascar was approved. Altona Energy is doing well after its chief executive resigned and it said it has made progress on making amendments to its joint venture with Sino-Aus Energy Group Ltd and Wintask Group Ltd. Minco is up after it said it is to start an 11-hole exploration drilling programme at the Buchans mine in central Newfoundland, Canada. Byotrol is another gainer after it said it expects a narrower loss for its recently-ended financial year as sales rose on the back of strong petcare and professional product sales, and it is set for further growth as it nears a deal to get its products into the UK's National Health Service and its entrance to the US market. Energy Technique is up after it said its sales grew strongly in its recently-ended financial year, boosted by a strong performance in the fan coils business which offset some weakness in commercial heating. AorTech International shares are down by almost a quarter after it said it is too early to provide any guidance for its recently-ended financial year amid weaker-than-expected revenue from its manufacturing licence and as it seeks to secure money it is owed and as the litigation action taken against its former chief executive goes on. PeerTV is down after it issued 7,692,308 shares at 0.65 pence each in part repayment of loans due by the company and its subsidiary PeerTV Ltd. Inditherm shares hit an all-time low after its pretax loss widened sharply in 2014 as it was hit by slow decision-making in the UK's National Health Service and it said it was actively pursuing a small number of "potentially suitable ways forward" after a strategic review. GameAccount Network shares have also hit an all-time low after it swung to a pretax loss in 2014 as revenue was hit by a delay in securing a system sale and as it invested in rolling out its simulated gaming product in the US and other international markets.
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Other Top Economics And General
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Labour held on to its slender lead in the latest UK election polls, though the Conservatives clawed back a little ground, while another survey found Britons are split on whether the country should leave the European Union. The daily YouGov/The Sun poll has Labour leading by a point at 35%, with the Conservatives having won back a single point to be at 34%. The Liberal Democrats, UKIP and the Green Party are all unchanged in the latest survey.
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Labour is set to attack the Conservatives' spending plans, as the International Monetary Fund issued a warning on the UK deficit reduction plans that the various political parties have put forward and the Liberal Democrats and UK Independence Party both opened the doors to potential coalition agreements. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls will say in a speech in Birmingham on Thursday that the Conservatives have amassed GBP25 billion of unfunded spending commitments and will make a further pitch for Labour as the party of fiscal responsibility following its manifesto pledge earlier in the week that it has accounted for all of its spending pledges.
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The monthly house price balance in the UK came in at +21% in March, the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors revealed. Now at a five-month high, that beat expectations for a score of 15% after coming in at 14% in February. The main reason for the increase in house prices is a shortage of available properties, RICS said.
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Global ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Greece's credit rating and said the outlook for the debt-laden eurozone nation was "negative." Greece's credit, already in junk territory, was lowered from B- to CCC+ due to growing cash constraints on the government and banks. "Without deep economic reform or further relief, we expect Greece's debt and other financial commitments will be unsustainable," the company said in a statement.
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Foreign direct investment in China increased in March from a year ago, the Commerce Ministry said. In March, foreign direct investment climbed 2.2% year-over-year to USD12.4 billion, which was much higher than February's 0.9% rise. Total FDI for the March quarter marked an increase of 11.3% to USD34.88 billion.
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The collapse in oil prices has cost jobs in certain regions of the US, according to the latest Beige Book report from the Federal Reserve. Layoffs were reported throughout the Fed's Midwest regions, including Minneapolis, which contains the key North Dakota shale fields, and Dallas, where weakness in the Texas oil sector was apparent. Although the Fed said the broader US economy expanded at a moderate or modest pace in the period including most of February through March, the manufacturing sector was hurt by the strong dollar and a harsh winter.
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Facing pressure from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, the White House has indicated that US President Barack Obama is willing to sign legislation giving Congress the power to review a potential agreement regarding Iran's nuclear program. In his daily briefing, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters the administration was not going to be particularly thrilled about the legislation but suggested that Obama could support a compromise bill. Earnest noted that Obama previously threatened to veto similar legislation but said the leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee agreed to make a substantial number of changes to address the president's concerns.
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Afternoon Watchlist (all times in BST)

13:30 US Housing Starts
13:30 US Jobless Claims
15:00 US Philadelphia Fed Manufacturing Survey
15:30 US EIA Natural Gas Storage change
18:00 US Fed's Lockhart speech
18:10 US FOMC Member Mester speech
18:30 US Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Rosengren Speech
20:00 US Fed's Stanley Fischer speech
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Friday's UK Corporate Events

Tex Holdings - Full Year Results
Acal - Trading Statement
Inspired Capital - Full Year Results
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Friday's Key Economic Events (all times in BST)

06:00 Japan Consumer Confidence Index
09:30 UK ILO Unemployment Rate
10:00 EU Consumer Price Index
13:30 US Consumer Price Index
15:00 US CB Leading Indicator
15:00 US Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index Preliminary
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