Fosters rolls out by the barrel

I was surprised and disappointed to see the picture painted by the story “New man at S&N” (MW February 8), which reported Foster’s as being “in fourth place behind Stella Artois, Carling and Budweiser; with sales ‘languishing at one-third of those of the market leader Stella”.

Unlike most other packaged goods, the true size and value of a beer brand must be measured on its performance within the on-and off-trade sectors. Your report was, misleading, based on off-trade sales data only, representing some 30 per cent of the beer market.

Had the story been based on GB Total Trade (AC Nielsen) figures, your readers would have seen a very different picture, with Fosters recording total annual sales worth almost £1.2bn and, at 8.2 per cent, a significantly higher value share of the total lager market than either Budweiser (3 per cent) or Stella (6.7 per cent).

John Botia

Brands director – lagers

Scottish Courage

Edinburgh