A-B Puts Off Paying the Inventory Fairy

Anheuser-Busch's third quarter shipments to distributors were up 1.1%, but up only 0.3% if you take out Rolling Rock, Grolsch, and Tiger shipments. Distributor sales-to-retailers were down 0.4%, down 1.2% without the new brands. A-B's earnings-per-share were a penny over analysts' consensus. A-B said for the year it has gained share slightly on a volume shipment basis (not on an STR basis though), and revenue per barrel (pricing and discount reduction) was up 2.8%. A-B expects to implement price increases