Frederick Brewing

With the threat of being removed from Nasdaq's listing, Frederick Brewing Co. said yesterday that it will ask shareholders to approve a 5 to 1 reverse stock split. The Frederick-based brewer would go from about 14.2 million outstanding shares to 2.8 million.Frederick shares have traded at $1 or less since late July, and Nasdaq officials said they must reach a closing price of at least $1 per share for 10 consecutive days by Dec. 14 or be delisted.The company -- whose lines include Blue Ridge and Hempen -- hasn't posted a profit since going public in March 1996.

Frederick Brewing Co. reported a second-quarter loss yesterday of $1.9 million, double its $950,000 loss in the same quarter last year.The loss amounted to 20 cents a share, with 9.5 million shares outstanding, vs. 45 cents in the same period last year, when the company had 2 million shares outstanding.The Frederick-based craft brewery, whose lines include Blue Ridge and Hempen, warned of the loss last month when it announced it was eliminating six salaried positions and cutting senior management pay in a cost-saving move.

Frederick Brewing Co. said yesterday that it had eliminated some management jobs and reduced salaries of senior executives in a cost-cutting move to save $200,000 as it warned of a "significant" loss in the second quarter.Frederick Brewing, whose losses have increased for four consecutive years, said it lost $4.4 million in 1997 and $910,000 in the year-ago second quarter.A complete earnings report for the three months that ended June 30 will be released Aug. 2. Notice of the continuing losses came as the company reported second-quarter sales were up 82 percent over the same time last year.

Frederick Brewing Co., brewer of Blue Ridge, Hempen, Wild Goose and Brimstone beers, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $2.9 million yesterday, compared with $1.5 million a year earlier.The company attributed the wider loss to higher operating costs and interest expense.It also included a nonoperating charge of $1.3 million for dividends on preferred stock that did not apply in 1996.Sales for the three months ended Dec. 31 were $1.1 million, a 123 percent increase over the 1996 quarter. The results do not include sales of the Wild Goose or Brimstone brands, which were acquired this year.

Three microbreweries with little in common but the state of Maryland said yesterday that they were casting their lots together to better their prospects for survival in an increasingly difficult industry.Frederick Brewing Co. of Frederick announced its plans to buy Cambridge-based Wild Goose Brewery Inc. and Baltimore-based Brimstone Brewing Co. late Monday. The three companies joined to explain the deal yesterday.Frederick Brewing will pay about $3 million for Wild Goose, an amount that will include retirement of Wild Goose debt and the issuance of Frederick Brewing Co. stock.

There's the hemp trend. There's the microbrew trend. And where they meet, a pile of money appears to be forming."The sky's the limit," says Marjorie A. McGinnis, whose Frederick Brewing Co. in Frederick makes beer flavored with hemp -- or cannabis -- seeds."

Because of inaccurate information supplied to The Sun, an article in yesterday's business section incorrectly stated the amount of money the Frederick Brewing Co. hopes to raise in a public stock offering. The company expects to raise between $2.5 million and $4.8 million.The Sun regrets the errors.Hugh Sisson's Baltimore County brewery is about four times as big as he needs right now.But he's got an excuse. He's been selling suds for only a few weeks. When the rest of the East Coast discovers his beers over the next five years, he figures, Clipper City Brewing Co. will grow into its oversized britches.

Kodak earnings drop 29%Beset by Japanese rivals, sluggish European markets and an inability to raise prices at home or abroad, Eastman Kodak Co. said yesterday that earnings dropped 29 percent in the second quarter.The world's leading photographic products company earned $264 million, or 79 cents a share, in the three months that ended June 30, compared with profits of $371 million, or $1.13 a share, in the same period a year ago.Kodak's stock closed at $47.875 yesterday, off $1.625.Farm Credit merger talks continueDirectors of the Farm Credit Bank of Baltimore met yesterday to discuss a merger with the Farm Credit Bank of Columbia, S.C., but adjourned without reaching a decision, according to Reider J. White, vice president of communications for the Sparks-based cooperative agriculture lender.

FREDERICK -- Beer aficionados can expect more Maryland brew to pour from bottles and taps in the coming months as the popularity of small, specialized breweries continues to spread.The most recent of these tiny -- at least by Anheuser-Busch's and other national breweries' standards -- operations opened in Frederick -- the Frederick Brewing Co., offering its Blue Ridge line of beer."We're seeing an emergence of small specialty beers in Maryland," said Lou Berman, an investigator with the state comptroller's office, which licenses breweries.

One of the few kind things that can be said about August in Maryland is that it is excellent beer-drinking weather.This summer a growing number of Maryland brewers have been turning out small batches of full-flavored, locally made beers. This is good news for area quaffers. While many wines get better with age, most beers don't. Like a good baker, a small brewer uses fresh ingredients to make his product, sells it quickly while its flavors are at their peak, then goes to work on the next batch.