A-B Volumes “Below Expectations”

"Overall it was not a good quarter for our trademark brands." So says A-B cfo Randy Baker with measured understatement yesterday in a conference call with analysts. Anheuser-Busch's second quarter US beer shipments were up a respectable 2.3%, although distributor sales-to-retailers were up only 0.1%, indicating a build in distributor inventory. Organic volume (stripping out new brands) was down around -1.5%. YTD shipments are up 1.5%. MARKET SHARE A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK. A-B's US market share for the first