THE BREWER BEHIND premium beers Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastru Azzurro and Grolsch has thanked a good UK summer for booming lager sales in the region.

SABMiller, the world’s second-biggest brewing company worth about £52 billion (€66 billion) on today’s share price, reported an 11% increase in sales in the region – particularly on the back of strong Peroni sales over the last six months.

But overall, the company said its European sales had suffered from a “challenging second quarter” with revenue down across the continent.

It blamed ”poor weather across much of the region during the peak months” hitting its Europe-wide lager sales.

The company did not isolate any results for its Irish trade.

In its latest financial update, the company said worldwide revenues were up 3% over the last three months despite it selling slightly less drinks.

Those sugary drinks are going well

SABMiller said its soft-drinks business in Latin America was particularly strong thanks to its “non-alcoholic malt brands”.

The company is one of the world’s biggest Coca Cola bottlers and last year its soft-drinks trade was the fastest-growing part of its business, now worth nearly 20% of its total turnover.

Elsewhere, the brewer took a 4% hit to its sales for Australia, where it blamed falling lager demand and “competitive price pressure” for the drop.

In 2013 SABMiller turned over some $26.9 billion (€21.2 billion) with the biggest shares coming from its Latin American and South African operations.

Last month it made a secret bid for rival Heineken, the world’s third-biggest brewer, but the majority family-owned company knocked back the approach.

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