The maker of Corona beer Anheuser-Busch InBev’s (AB InBev’s) shares rose more than 5% today due to a strong first-quarter performance.
The beer maker also anticipated relief from the US boycott of its Bud Light beer.
AB InBev reporter a 2.6% increase in revenues, in line with expectations, and better-than-forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).
This improvement included North America, which is the company’s largest region by revenues according to analysts.
The company said it had record volumes in some of its markets in the quarter, including Brazil and South Africa.
Meanwhile, EBITDA grew 5.4%, well above the 1.9% expected by analysts.
Its shares hit their highest level since February.
Chief executive Michael Doukeris said, “We are encouraged by our results to start the year.”
Boycott
AB InBev has been hit hard in the US by a boycott of its Bud Light beer, knocking it from the top-selling beer in the region.
Bud Light’s revenues in the country declined 9.1%. in the first quarter, with sales to retailers down 13.7%.
Yet volumes for the beer fell less than expected in the US, and its performance improved a great deal from earlier in the boycott, analysts said.
Barclays analyst Laurence Whyatt said, “AB has got its (likely) hardest quarter of 2024 out of the way with little to no bruises.
“Bud Light continues to weigh on results, but this is the last quarter to face a significant impact.”
The boycott stems from conservative backlash to a social media promotion with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
It began about a year ago, so the three months to the end of March 2024 should be the final quarter of tough pushback for AB InBev in terms of tough comparatives.
Sales figures from a year ago will be from the boycott, easing the comparative differences.
Sales Margins
All brewers are set for margin expansion as prices for key materials, such as barley and aluminium, slow.
Rivals Heineken and Carlsberg also produced strong first-quarter results.
AB InBev reporter a 5.4% increase in normalised EBITDA to almost $5 billion.
The company said it expects full-year EBITDA to grow in line with its medium-term outlook of between 4% and 8%.
Read More: Heineken Sales Above Expectations In First Quarter
