SanMig gets liquor boost

       The Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp yesterday reported a 24% increase in third-quarter net income,boosted by double-digit revenue growth in its liquor business.
       San Miguel, which sells nine out of 10 beers in the Philippines, is likely to benefit from election related spending in the current quarter and early next year ahead of May presidential polls.
       Profits at the Philippines' third-largest listed firm have been boosted this year by one-off sales of substantial stakes in key operating units, part of a strategic shift into higher-growth sectors such as power, telecoms and toll roads.
       The company earned 97.7 billion pesos ($2.05 billion) from selling a 43% stake in its flagship San Miguel Brewery to Japan's Kirin Holdings and 38.8 billion pesos from selling its domestic beer brands and assets to its brewery unit in April.
       San Miguel owns 27% of Manila Electric (Meralco) and controls about 43%with its allies. It wants to take a majority stake to support its entry into telecoms,a venture it set up with partner Qatar Telecommunications Co.
       Last week, San Miguel's business partner Henry Sy Jr, son of the Philippines'leading tycoon, offered to buy a Meralco stake held by the Lopez business family for $940 million.
       The Lopez family is set to decide this week either to accept the offer from the Sy group or that from another Meralco shareholder, the PLDT group.
       San Miguel said in a statement January-September net income was 57 billion pesos, up 173% from a year earlier.
       It said net income without one-off items was 7.61 billion pesos in the nine months, up 6% from a year ago.
       Stripping out reported first-half net income of 55.6 billion pesos, San Miguel's third-quarter net profit was 1.4 billion pesos compared with 1.13 billion pesos a year earlier, based on Reuters' calculations.