By AP/St. Louis Public Radio
Brussels – The world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev said third quarter revenue fell 10 percent over the year to $9.76 billion as beer sales shrank.
The firm says beer sales were down 3.1 percent because of weak demand in the united states and Europe, where the economic downturn is holding back spending. A
year ago, the two companies' revenues were $10.89 billion.
Despite the lagging sales, the company made a profit of $1.546 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, which it said it could not compare to figures from St. Louis-based Anheuser Busch and InBev before they combined late last year.
For July-September 2008, InBev posted a profit of $690 million and AB $666.1 million
AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito said it was now "a much stronger company" after tackling debt with the $9.4 billion sell-off of U.S. theme parks and a central European unit.