The Landmark buying group has accused Anheuser-Busch of turning its back on the cash and carry sector. And md Mike McGee said the group was now "refusing to put any life into Budweiser because Anheuser-Busch is substantially discounting to other channels". McGee added: "We can purchase Bud much cheaper from other channels than we can buy it from them." He said the differential was as much as £2.50 a case, and this was encouraging wholesalers to buy grey market stock. "We have challenged Anheuser-Busch," said McGee. And he added: "We are not encouraging retailers to stock Bud ­ and we will tell them why." He said Landmark members would put up posters telling their customers they were not promoting Bud "because we can't give you a competitive price". However Anheuser-Busch maintained that its position was fair. Trading director Peter Travers said: "The company remains committed to supporting the independent route to market. This is demonstrated in both the price and pack promotions we offer across our range. "Our support package was upweighted and extended to the Landmark members for this key Christmas trading period." He said ACNielsen figures for the independent off-trade showed premium lager volumes down by 1.4% while Budweiser grew by 12.6%. {{DRINKS }}

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