Glasses raised to beer results

BELGIAN beer giant Interbrew has toasted the performance of its enlarged UK business after seeing full-year profits surge.

The integration of Bass Brewers' interests in Scotland and Northern Ireland helped the group almost double UK earnings and lift market share to 16 per cent. Group turnover in the year to December 31 climbed 29.1 per cent to £4.52bn. The growth lifted operating profits by more than 30 per cent to £944m.

BOOKINGS DOWN: Tour operator First Choice Holidays has blamed last-minute trips for a fall in bookings. The Crawley firm said bookings for winter 2001 were down three per cent, while bookings for this summer had slumped ten per cent.

PROFITS FALL: Falling demand for PCs and software saw profits slide at Computacenter last year, the computer services group said. Computacenter posted pre-tax profits of £51.1m in the year to December 31, down eight per cent but in line with a trading update two months ago.

CHALLENGES AHEAD: Mining company Anglo American has warned of rocky times ahead as it posted a slide in full-year profits. Turnover for the year to December 31 dipped from £10.51bn to £10.49bn, while operating profits slid from £2.28bn to £1.98bn. Bottom-line pre-tax profits rose from £2.73bn to £3.60bn.

TAX ADVICE: Staff from Sunderland Tax Office will be at Felling JobCentre on Thursday, March 28, to give free advice on tax and national insurance. The team will be available to answer questions between 10am and 1pm.

E-AWARDS: One-man-bands and micro-businesses across the region are invited to enter this year's e-commerce awards, sponsored by Sage. For further information log on to www.ecommerce-awards.co.uk