Anheuser Busch released record sales and profits for the
quarter ending September 30. Despite the baseball strike's
shutdown of the company's Cardinals franchise, A-B's Bud Light
brand passed Philip Morris' Miller Lite to become the nation's
best-selling light beer and the No. 2 beer overall. A-B's
flagship product, Budweiser, remains No. 1. Beer sales increased
2.7% in the first nine months of '94 while premium beer sales
gained 3.5%. Volume growth gave A-B a boost to a 44% domestic
market share (Christopher Carey, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 10/27).
Quarterly sales figures include contract production of an ice
beer for Japan's Kirin Brewery (Richard Gibson, WALL STREET
JOURNAL, 10/27). A-B gains were partly due to the "successful
debut" of Ice Draft and Ice Draft Light. In '93, A-B reported a
$75M net loss due to restructuring and tax-related charges
(Patrick Harverson, FINANCIAL TIMES, 10/27).
BEHIND THE NUMBERS: Asked how the baseball strike affected
the Cardinals, an A-B spokesperson said that the company had
predicted a losing season financially, but "the strike worsened
that anticipated loss by several million dollars" (Richard
Gibson, WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/27).
BYE-BYE BUD BOWL?: A-B has reassigned its annual "Bud Bowl"
Super Bowl ad campaign to Chicago-based DDB Needham. The '95
campaign culminates in a series of ads to run during the game,
each of which cost up to $1M to produce and almost $950,000/30-
second (Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY, 10/27).
