Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Busch Has A Plan
Here's some good news for those who fear a sale of the Busch theme parks.
Of course, there's still uncertainty about what InBev will do if it succeeds in taking over A-B and informed speculation is that InBev, notorious for its stingy ways, would sell off the parks.
Anheuser-Busch (nyse: BUD - news - people ) laid out a plan to cut $1.0 billion in costs and improve earnings in an attempt to resist a hostile takeover embrace by InBev (other-otc: INBVF - news - people ) which made an unsolicited, $65.00-per-share, all-cash takeover bid for the American brewer on June 11. Anheuser officially rejected InBev's bid, worth $46.4 billion, late Thursday as financially inadequate. (See "InBev Is Not Anheuser's Bud.")
Shares of the American beer maker rose 1.5%, or 91 cents, to close at $62.26 in trading Friday on news of the cost-cutting plan laid out by Chief Financial Officer W. Randolph Baker.
The plan includes cutting 10.0% of its salaried workforce through early retirement and attrition, speeding up price hikes to cope with rising commodity costs, and setting earnings forecasts that exceed Wall Street's expectations.
Anheuser also said it would repurchase $7.0 billion in shares this year and next, up from its previous target of $3.8 billion.
Contrary to many analysts' speculations, the plan did not include divesting Anheuser's packaging unit nor its theme parks.
Of course, there's still uncertainty about what InBev will do if it succeeds in taking over A-B and informed speculation is that InBev, notorious for its stingy ways, would sell off the parks.
