A-B Profits and STRs Strong

Selling more beer at higher prices seems to be a way to make more money. A-B reported strong shipments and STRs in Q3, beating most estimates. The brewer said that its U.S. beer shipments increased 2% for the third quarter, while sales-to-retailers increased 2.2%. A full 1.6 points of that growth came from newly acquired imports. A-B said price increases are sticking and volumes are rebounding against easier comps.For the nine months of 2007, shipments increased 1.7% and sales-to-retailers increased