Volumes Down, Margins Up for ABI in Q4

Dear Client:It's a new quarter but the same old story for our biggest brewer. AB InBev's organic volumes were down 0.7% for the year in 2009, while EBIDTA margins expanded by 2 points. In the fourth quarter global beer volumes were up 0.7%. ABI has proven itself to be, once again and even in tough times, a margin machine. La Maquina strikes again. But it has to be tough when all regions lost volume except Brazil.It was a very weak