DIAGEO PLC In his annual budget statement, Osborne said beer duty would fall by a penny for the third year in a row, while duty on cider, Scotch whisky, one of Britain's biggest exports, and other spirits would fall by 2 percent. Wine duty was frozen.
Shares in British pubs, competing with the cheaper alcohol prices of supermarkets, were up on Wednesday, with industry association Campaign For Real Ale (CAMRA) saying the last two beer cuts had saved over 1,000 pubs from closure.
"It will help ensure the sector returns to long-term growth after many years of pub closures and falling beer sales, caused in part by a 42 percent beer tax increase between 2008 and 2012," CAMRA Chief Executive Tim Page said.
Last year Osborne also scrapped the duty escalator for all alcohol, which added two percent plus inflation to prices each year. Industry research has estimated that the price of a pub pint will now be more than 20p cheaper than it would have been had the beer duty escalator remained in place.
Shares in pub firms Wetherspoon (>> J D Wetherspoon plc) and Marston's (>> Marston's PLC) rose 1.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively at 1351 GMT to 787.5 pence and 151.7p, and were up 1.3 percent to 1934p in Johnnie Walker whisky producer Diageo (>> Diageo plc).
(Reporting by Neil Maidment; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
