MillerCoors, the second-largest brewer in the United States, posted a 38 percent rise in fourth-quarter net income, as cost savings and better trends for its premium light brands offset soft industry volumes.

The combined U.S. operations of SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co., with brands such as Miller Lite and Coors Light, said on Thursday net income in the October-December quarter, excluding one-off items, was $146 million, with net sales up 0.4 percent to $1.72 billion.

“We continue to invest in innovation behind our premium light brands, drive growth in our craft and import portfolio and deliver synergy and cost savings as promised,” said MillerCoors chief executive Leo Kiely in a results statement.

The company, formed in July 2008, said it had surpassed its three-year synergy-savings goal six months ahead of schedule, delivering $60 million of savings in the fourth quarter for a total of $505 million achieved since its creation.

Additional cost savings of $31 million were achieved in the fourth quarter, bringing total synergy and cost savings to $655 million since July 2008.

The brewer has a U.S. beer market share of nearly 30 percent behind Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev’s almost 50 percent. Molson Coors, with its main operations in the United States, Canada and Britain, is due to report later on Thursday.

Last month, SABMiller reported a 3 percent rise in its October-December quarter global underlying beer volumes while in the United States sales to retailers at MillerCoors fell 2.5 percent in testing industry and economic conditions.

At 1215 GMT, SABMiller shares were down 1 percent at 2,065 pence, in line with the UK’s FTSE-100 benchmark index .FTSE.