Miller Brands UK says thank you to Generation Y

Miller Brands UK, part of international brewing giant SABMiller, last week announced that it had a successful year and attributed this to the tenacity of the 20 – 30 year old age-group, when it comes to spending their disposable income on affordable luxuries.

In the 12 months to 31st March 2009, Miller Brands UK said it had grown its value share of the UK premium lager market by a fifth. The company was particularly pleased with this because it goes against it is against the negative trend of the general UK beer market. In terms of individual brands, Pilsner Urquell saw its volumes rise by 20%, whilst Peroni Nastro achieved double that figure.

Miller Brands UK has used the phrase Generation Y to refer to its loyal 20–30-year-olds market and defined it as a group of young people who delay buying major purchase items such as cars but do not cut back on smaller luxuries such as beer.

MillerCoors is SABMiller's joint venture in North America and the company said that its cost synergies for the joint venture are ahead of schedule. Announcing its preliminary annual results, SABMiller said that North America has been its strongest world region overall with EBITA up 22%, in contrast to 11% in Latin America, 16% in Africa and Asia. Its performance in Europe was level and it saw a 2% fall in South Africa. Overall, SABMiller has been reviewing its investment plans because of uncertainty about when the economic recovery will arrive. However, the company says that its balance sheet is sound with moderate leverage. The results for Miller Brands UK are the best since the operation was formed four years ago

18 May 2009