Despite a declining beer market, Beamish & Crawford experienced a double-digit uplift in sales across its main brands last year.

Although the company does not disclose detailed sales and profitability figures, the brewery revealed yesterday that revenue from its three key brands - Beamish Genuine Irish Stout, Miller Genuine Draft and Foster's - rose by 10 per cent last year.

In fact, Beamish Stout was the only stout brand to experience sales growth in 2006.

Miller Genuine Draft also gained ground last year, with sales in all categories - Miller bottles, draught and cans - higher than 2005 levels.

Meanwhile in the lager market, Foster's popularity reached new heights with Irish drinkers. Demand was particularly strong in the draught category, due to the roll-out of new "super chilled" beer cooling technology.

Managing director Alf Smiddy explained that outsourcing "non-core activity" had enabled the brewery to concentrate on marketing its portfolio of beer brands in the Republic.

Meanwhile, Beamish & Crawford's parent company Scottish & Newcastle announced that its pre-tax profits increased by 13.9 per cent to £452 million (€672.522 million) last year, driven by strong growth in key brands across international markets.

Despite this strong performance, the company's chief executive Tony Froggatt unveiled a cost-cutting strategy yesterday designed to save £50 million over the next three years, across all of its wholly-owned subsidiaries.

A spokesman for the company confirmed last night that Beamish & Crawford will be included in the cost saving review.

"This does not mean automatic job cuts, but we never say never about these things," the spokesman said.