from Shop Talk:
This Bud’s No Longer for Wall Street
Is it Last Call for Wall Street at Anheuser-Busch?
On Anheuser-Busch's conference call Wednesday to discuss second-quarter earnings, the tone was more like a wake than the tailgate parties of old.
Well, previous calls never really had galloping Clydesdales, singing frogs or a hard-partying Bull Terrier. But quarter after quarter, investors and analysts from both the "buy" and "sell" sides would still dial in after the close of New York trading for the latest color on beer sales.
Wednesday's get-together -- likely the second-to-last one before the brewer gets swallowed by Belgian brewer InBev -- was different.
First, the earnings were released at 11:12 a.m. ET, (instead of the usual 2:30 p.m.), just as Wall Street's beverage analysts were listening to PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi , on her conference call, discuss ways the company is changing its business to cope with the current economic uncertainty.
The Bud call started at noon, immediately following the Pepsi call.
While Chief Financial Officer W. Randy Baker said the teleconference was "earlier to accommodate the increased interest of European investors and analysts," one U.S.-based analyst, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity, guessed that the near overlap with Pepsi's presentation was no coincidence.
from Shop Talk:
Despite deal, Cubans may not crack open Budweisers soon
Anheuser-Busch's "Cuba defense" against a takeover by Belgium-based InBev may have gone flat after the Budweiser folks agreed to be bought out, but don't expect to see America's top-selling beers in Havana bars any time soon.
InBev brews and sells Beck's, Bucanero, Cristal and Mayabe beers in Cuba through a 50/50 joint venture with the Cuban government. Could Cubans now be one mambo step closer to cracking open a cold Bud on a hot Havana night?
Not so fast, says Uncle Sam.
According to a U.S. embargo against Cuba "no products, technology, or services may be exported from the United States to Cuba, either directly or through third countries. This prohibition includes dealing in or assisting the sale of goods or commodities to or from Cuba, even if done entirely offshore."
Exceptions include things like medicine, food, agricultural products, works of art or publications.
"There will not be any Bud in Cuba. That's a business that doesn't exist now and it will not exist in the future until the regime changes," said Todd Malan, president and chief executive of the Organization for International Investment, a lobbying group that represents U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies.
But talk to enough people in Cuba and someone will remember when Budweiser was sold there. A waiter at Havana's landmark Hotel Nacional recently said the last time he saw it was in the early 1990s -- right about the time the Soviet Union collapsed and Cuba's economy, heavily subsidized by Moscow, went south.
from Shop Talk:
VF takes stake in Splendid and Ella Moss
Despite the credit crunch and weak U.S. economy VF Corp went shopping again.
The company, once known for functional brands like Wrangler, Lee, Eastpak and JanSport, said on Wednesday it acquired a one-third interest in Mo Industries, owner of the Splendid and Ella Moss brands.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, beyond saying that it valued the brands at close to 7.5 times expected 2008 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
Splendid and Ella Moss clothes are sold at high-end retailers such as Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom and together brought in over $80 million in revenue last year.
Mike Egeck, president of VF's contemporary brands segment, said the acquisition allows the company to broaden its offering of knit tops and provide synergies with its 7 For All Mankind and lucy brands, which respectively sell designer jeans and yoga clothes.
(Photo: www.splendid.com)
