Brewer posts 32% decrease in profits

China Resources Enterprise Ltd, the company that makes the country's best-selling beer, Snow Beer, with SABMiller Plc, said first-quarter earnings declined 32 percent as a slowing economy damped consumer spending. The shares fell.

Underlying profit in the three months ended March dropped to HK$349 million ($45 million) from HK$512 million a year earlier, the state-backed company said in a statement to the city's stock exchange.

The underlying figure excludes the effect of asset revaluation and major disposals. Sales rose 16 percent to HK$41.8 billion during the period.