Anheuser-Bucsh InBev, the brewer of famous beers such as Budweiser, Becks and Stella Artois, has reported an eye watering 95% drop in quarterly profits.

It is claimed that the cause of this lies in the takeover of Anhueser by InBev which cost $52bn. They state that this mainly covered redundancy payments and yet they are still cutting a further 2,400 jobs! They also say they want to cut spending on their US operations by $500m, reduce capital expenditure by $1bn and offload $7bn of, as yet unnamed, assets.

Of course there is a debt problem to be resolved behind all of this and Anheuser-Busch InBev say they have started refinancing the $45bn loan they took out for the takeover.

Perhaps they should also amend their famous Stella Artois commercials. In a recession people who are worried about making ends meet, and how to get themselves debt free, are probably not looking for a beer that is reassuringly expensive!

Do the world a favour, make it reassuringly inexpensive!