Anheuser-Busch InBev NV shares plummeted as the brewer missed profit estimates for the sixth consecutive quarter, illustrating why the Budweiser maker needed to spend $103-billion (about R1.4-trillion) buying SABMiller . The stock fell as much as 6%, the most since June. The drop imperilled the company's position as Europe's biggest company by market value, a status it only gained this month when the takeover was completed after a year-long process. The biggest area of weakness was Brazil, ABInBev's second-largest market, where slack consumption was compounded by delays to price hikes into the fourth quarter. The brewer also acknowledged that cracks are appearing in the US craft beer boom. More than ever, ABInBev will be relying on achieving the $1.4-billion of annual savings it has said it can get from combining with SABMiller. "One would have to seriously question a positive stance on stand-alone ABInBev," Eamonn Ferry, an analyst at Exane BNP Paribas, wrote in a note to investors...
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