Brewer SABMiller annual net profits rocket 75%

Anglo-South African brewer SABMiller, which bought Australian group Foster's last year, said Thursday that annual net profits soared by 75 percent, boosted by growth in emerging markets. Earnings after taxation surged to $4.22 billion (3.36 billion euros) in the 12 months to the end of March, compared with $2.408 billion in the previous financial year, SABMiller said in a results statement. Revenues meanwhile soared by 11 percent to $31.4 billion, added the group, which also produces Grolsch, Miller Lite, Peroni Nastro Azzuro and Pilsner Urquell. "I am delighted to report another year of significant progress and strong results," said chairman Meyer Kahn in the earnings release. "Through our successful marketing, portfolio development and commercial execution we continued to build on our position in the world's developing consumer economies. "Strong profit growth continued, driven by an organic total volume increase of 4.0 percent and complemented by favourable mix and pricing." "We continued to expand our global footprint with the acquisition of Foster's," it added.