UPDATE 2-Altria sees plan for alcohol assets by year end

* To develop strategy for $8 bln of assets by year-end

* Still learning about UST wine business

* SABMiller stake has tax hit if sold (Adds company comments. Changes dateline from NEW YORK)

By Brad Dorfman and Martinne Geller

BOCA RATON, Fla./NEW YORK, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Tobacco company Altria Group Inc (MO.N) on Wednesday said it hopes to have a strategy in place for $8 billion in alcohol assets by the end of the year, and stuck by its 2009 profit forecast.

The company is looking at what to do with a wine business it bought along with smokeless tobacco maker UST Inc, as well as its stake in SABMiller Plc (SAB.L). Altria acquired the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates business when it bought UST in January.

The purpose of the acquisition was to get UST's smokeless tobacco brands like Copenhagen and Skoal to expand in that segment, which is growing while the U.S. cigarette market continues to shrink.

With the wine business, along with its 28.6 percent stake in SABMiller, Altria has about $8 billion in alcohol assets that it has to develop a strategy for, Altria CEO Michael Szymanczyk said on Wednesday.

"I'd like us to frame a strategy by the end of the year," Szymanczyk said in comments to reporters and analysts during the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in Florida.