BUD Anheuser Busch Inbev SA NV

By Ian Walker

Anheuser-Busch InBev has reported a massive fall in second quarter net profit--missing market expectations--as a fall in U.S. volumes offset rises in other regions.

The world's largest brewer--which houses Stella Artois and Budweiser among its portfolio--said Thursday that overall volumes fell 1.4%, matching expectations. Within this, North America volumes fell 14.5%.

Sales in the region have been falling since April when Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social-media star, made an Instagram post about a personalized can of Bud Light that the brewer had sent her as a gift. The post sparked a boycott that caused sales of Bud Light, and other brands, to fall.

Net profit for the quarter fell to $339 million compared with $1.60 billion for the comparable period a year earlier and a FactSet consensus of $613.35 million.

Revenue for the quarter rose to $15.12 billion from $14.79 billion, driven by pricing actions, premiumization--the strategy of emphasizing luxury versions of its products--and other revenue-management moves. Revenue consensus was $15.38 billion.

On an organic basis, revenue grew 7.2%, beating a company-provided market consensus of 6.4%.

Normalized earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization--one of the company's preferred metrics which strips out exceptional and other one-off items--fell to $4.91 billion from $5.10 billion and a consensus of $4.845 billion.

Looking ahead, AB InBev reiterated that it expects 2023 Ebitda to grow in line with its medium-term outlook of between 4% to 8% and revenue to grow ahead of Ebitda from a healthy combination of volume and price.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 03, 2023 01:41 ET (05:41 GMT)

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