"We are the world's largest brewer by volume, and our opportunity is to be the best. By best, I mean we want to have the highest profit margin of anybody in the business. That means taking our profit margin from 25 to 30 per cent [i.e. above Anheuser-Busch's margin] in the next three years or so. That's where we're aiming to go and we're convinced we can get there with our strategy of brand development, portfolio management, cost reduction and targeted M&A."
so says John Brock, CEO of Inbev (formerly Interbrew & AmBev, owners of Skol, Rolling Rock, Bass, Boddies, Stella, Becks, Whitbread, Hoegaarden, BelleVue, Labatts, plus SouthAmerican brands such as Brahma) at (v long url from telegraph business section)
Ah, and there was me thinking that the "world's best brewer" might maybe make the "world's best beer", but no, it apparently means "charge more for cack beer than anyone else on the planet" priceless logic.
In the whole interview, (chockful of big business toss-speak as above) published 2 days after the last brew, there was no mention of the end of Boddies 220+ year history, and the job cuts. Did it not occur to either intereviewer or interviewee? ho hum, cheers, MikeMcG.