The world’s second-biggest brewer is investing in fan zones near World Cup stadiums, revamping existing bars in townships and conducting other promotions behind its Castle brand to help hold on to its near 90 percent share of the South African beer market. The brewer hopes the World Cup starting on June 11 will boost the South African market by 4-6 percent over the six weeks of the tournament to translate into a 1 percent uplift in the market during SABMiller’s financial year to March 2011. BR ), which brews Budweiser and is the world’s biggest beer maker, has rights to beer sales in the World Cup stadiums in the tournament, which is expected to attract 200,000 foreign football fans. Heineken, the world’s No 3 brewer, got its chance to compete in South Africa in early 2007 when it won back the rights from SABMiller to brew its Amstel beer in South Africa, and the Dutch brewer linked up with Diageo and Windhoek-based Namibian Breweries to build the new South African brewery. SABMiller has responded to the advent of competition in South Africa by raising the annual growth of its marketing spend above the domestic inflation rate of around 5 percent to back its key brands Castle, Carling, Hansa and Castle Lite. Thomson Reuters is the world’s largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters. read more

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