East African Breweries' : H1 profit jumps 9%

Kenya's East African Breweries (EABL) posted a 9% jump in pretax profit to 10.6 billion shillings ($105.21 million) for its first half to the end of December, it said on Friday.

The company, which is controlled by Britain's Diageo, reported a 10% rise in net sales to 45.9 billion shillings.

"We remain cautiously optimistic about our second half of the year, although unpredicted tax and regulatory changes and challenges in our operating environment continue to present potential risks," CEO Andrew Cowan said.

In Kenya, the brewer's biggest market, it registered an 8% rise in net sales driven by growth in mainstream spirits and scotch whisky.

Faster sales of its low priced Senator Keg beer in Kenya also helped, the company said.

EABL also operates in neighbouring Uganda and Tanzania.

($1 = 100.7500 Kenyan shillings)

(Reporting by Duncan Miriri; editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jason Neely)

Stocks treated in this article : Diageo plc, East African Breweries Ltd