Brewer SABMiller Full-year Profit Down 7 Pct

JANE WARDELL

LONDON (AP) — SABMiller PLC, brewer of Grolsch and Peroni Nastro Azzurro lagers, posted a 7 percent fall in full-year net profit after the economic downturn escalated, adding on Thursday that there "remains little visibility" about the timing of a recovery in consumer demand.

The world's No. 2 brewer said it would scale back costs and investment — but also underscored its plans to invest selectively by announcing it planned to acquire the outstanding 28.1 percent minority stake in its Polish subsidiary, Kompania Piwowarska S.A., from Kulczyk Holding S.A. in a deal worth $1.1 billion.

SABMiller reported a net profit of 1.88 billion pounds ($2.84 billion) for the year to March 31, down from 2.02 billion pounds a year earlier. Revenue fell about 9 percent to 18.7 billion pounds. ...