Strong demand for Coors Light, Blue Moon and Keystone helped push Molson Coors sales up 6.5 percent, to $1.23 billion, in the first quarter.
The company posted a profit of $4.4 million, or 5 cents per share, versus a loss of $30.2 million, or 35 cents per share, in the same period last year.
“”Overall, our first quarter 2007 results are an encouraging start to the new year,” said Molson Coors CEO Leo Kiley.
The company, formed in 2005, from the merger of Adolph Coors Co. and Molson Inc., continued to invest in strategic brands in Canada, the U.S. and the U.K. Molson Coors also continued to see cost reductions related to consolidation that helped to offset the cost of inflation, Kiley said.
During the quarter, Molson Coors achieved approximately $14 million in merger-related savings.
The company also had an effective tax rate of 21 percent excluding special items, compared to more than 31 percent in the first quarter last year. A number of factors, including completion of some prior year audits and the impact of new accounting rules, drove the tax rate lower.
But the lower rate isn’t guaranteed in the future, causing the company to warn of volatility in its tax rate in future quarters.
“We believe the company is demonstrating increasing effectiveness driving solid performance in each region while getting the benefits of geographic diversification,” Mark Swartzberg, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., q said in a research note.
The announcement drove the company’s stock up to $98.87, a 2.93 percent gain, in early trading.
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