ARGENTINA: Quinsa up as Argentina recovers

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 13 August 2003

Quinsa, which is the holding company for the Latin American brewer Quilmes, has seen its second quarter core profits rise strongly, with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) of US$30.2m against US$4.7m for the same period a year ago.

The results were helped by a recovering Argentine economy.

The company reported a net loss, which was cut from $36.3m this time last year to $11.1m. Net sales rose 46% to US$121m, with beer volumes up 34% to 2,7m hl. Soft drink volumes rose 11% to 1.2m hl.

The recovering Argentine economy apart, Quinsa also attributed the strong rise in sales volume to the consolidation of operations of the southern assets of Companhia de Bebidas das Americas (AmBev) which bought 37.5% of Quinsa in January.

"This has increased our expectations regarding the company's prospects for the year," it said.

Quinsa is based in Luxembourg with the official name Quilmes Industrial.

The company also said in a statement that it was executing agreements with its creditors in order to reschedule its debt.

Sectors: Beer & cider, Soft drinks

Companies: AmBev