SPIRITS DOWN 3% IN DECEMBER

Based on IRI data, UBS analyst Melissa Earlam reported that NABCA spirits volumes (covering Control States or 24% of U.S. market) were down 3.04% in December 2006 due to tough comps (up 4.75%). This marks the first monthly decline since January 2005, although November was very strong with a volume growth of 6.74%.For the entire year, 2006 volumes grew 3.92%, a little above 3.46% in 2005. That figure tracks closely with the 3.8% figure reported earlier by DISCUS, which predicts