Nairobi, March 3 - East African Breweries posted a 22 percent rise in first-half pretax profits to 6.45 billion shillings, ($94.85 million), boosted by sales in Kenya, the company said on Monday.
"We have delivered extremely good profit before tax, growth of 22 per cent. Kenya has provided the powerhouse of revenue growth," Chris Caldwell group commercial director told an investor briefing.
The company, majority owned by Diageo recorded a pretax profit of 5.3 billion shillings in the first half of 2006/07 (July-June).
East African Breweries' beer and spirits business grew by 19 percent in the period under review.
The group has six companies, among them Kenya Breweries, Uganda Breweries, and a stake in the Tanzania Breweries.
Its shares closed at 155 shillings on the Nairobi Stock Exchange on Friday, compared with 144 shillings on Thursday.
It is also cross-listed in Tanzania's and Uganda's bourses.
The group said its earings per share grew by 28 percent compared with 4.57 shillings previously.