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| | USATODAY.com - Anheuser-Busch in talks with Tsingtao (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-19) |
 | | HONG KONG (Reuters) China's largest beer producer, Tsingtao Brewery, said Tuesday it is in exclusive talks with the world's biggest brewer, Anheuser-Busch, about joint ventures in one of the world's fastest-growing beer markets. |
 | | Tsingtao, which has acquired more than 40 breweries since 1997, is struggling to improve profitability because aggressive takeovers of weaker breweries, including loss-making and bankrupt ones, have been squeezing margins. |
 | | Tsingtao generated net profits of 84 million yuan on sales of 4.7 billion yuan in 2001, compared with net profit of 62 million yuan and sales of 3.4 billion yuan in the previous year. |
| www.usatoday.com /money/industries/food/2002-07-30-tsingtao_x.htm (444 words) |
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