SABMiller, the owner of China’s Snow beer brand and South Africa’s Castle Lager, on Thursday reported a 16 per cent rise in annual pre-tax profits to $3.26bn as it raised prices to compensate for higher brewing costs, and warned that the cost of beer would continue to rise.

Graham Mackay, chief executive, said: “The worst of the inflation is still to come... a lot of price recovery still has to happen.”