SABMiller Plc (SAB.L) reported Thursday that its first-half pre-tax profit was $1.50 billion, down 26% from last year's $2.02 billion. On an adjusted basis, excluding certain items, pre-tax profit rose 3% to $1.92 billion from $1.86 billion a year ago.
On an after-tax basis, profit declined to $1.06 billion from prior year's $1.57 billion, and profit attributable to equity shareholders fell to $973 million or 62.6 cents per share from $1.42 billion or 94.3 cents per share in the previous year.
Adjusted earnings rose 10% to $1.24 billion from $1.13 billion last year, and adjusted earnings per share grew to 79.5 cents from 74.8 cents a year ago.
First-half revenues fell to $8.85 billion from $11.17 billion last year. Group revenue, including attributable share of associates' and joint ventures' revenue, dropped 6% to $13.36 billion from $14.22 billion in the prior year.
Further, the company said its board has declared a cash interim dividend of 17 US cents per share, an increase of 6%. The dividend will be payable on December 11, 2009 to shareholders registered on the London and Johannesburg registers on December 4, 2009.
Looking ahead, the company said it expects the current trading conditions to continue in the second half, as unemployment, retail spending and other consumer indicators lag the reported stabilisation of GDP in many of its markets.
The company expects second half reported results to benefit from favourable currency movements, provided that its major operating currencies remain at or near current exchange rates to the US dollar.
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