Lite Drives Miller Sales Up; Chill Helps Out: Company Reports 5.9% Increase

By Tom Daykin, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Oct. 16–Miller Brewing Co., enjoying a revival of its largest brand, Miller Lite, and a kick from some new brands, reported Monday a 5.9% sales volume increase during the first half of its fiscal year.

Sales of Miller Lite, which accounts for 47% of Miller Brewing sales, increased 2.1% compared with the year-earlier period, according to a statement issued by SABMiller Plc, a London-based global brewer and Miller’s corporate parent.

Miller Chill, the company’s new light beer brewed with hints of lime and salt, continues to sell above expectations.

Also, sales of Peroni Nastro Azzurro, an Italian import, and craft beers brewed under the Leinenkugel’s label are up by “strong double digit percentages,” the company statement said.

Miller’s sales also were helped by the August 2006 purchase of two brands: Sparks, a citrus-flavored malt drink with caffeine, and Steel Reserve malt liquor.

Excluding those results, Miller’s sales increased 1.4% for the six months ending Sept. 30.

Miller’s focus on Miller Lite and its higher-margin brands, including imports, contributed to a 3.9% increase in revenue per barrel, the statement says.

The statement, however, did not mention some of Miller’s other major brands, including Miller High Life, its No. 2 brand, and Miller Genuine Draft, its third-largest brand. Those brands have seen stagnant and dropping sales, part of an industrywide trend that has affected other full-calorie, mainstream beers.

Miller, the nation’s second-largest brewer, reported its six-month sales picture just a week after announcing a planned joint venture with Coors Brewing Co., the nation’s No. 3 brewer.

The proposed new company, dubbed MillerCoors, would carry a 29% market share, and would cut costs of both companies by about $500 million yearly. Miller and Coors executives say the joint venture would create a strong competitor with Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation’s dominant brewer.

The joint venture, which the companies hope to complete by mid-2008, requires approval from antitrust regulators, among other conditions.

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