The world’s number 1 beer brewery, AB InBev, is dealing with a “difficult” second trimester, which saw its net profit fall by 31%. It has been affected by “economic gloom” in several of its markets, it announced on Thursday. Between April and June, the group registered a net benefit of 1.98 billion dollars, compared to 2.61 billion dollars for the same period last year, just after the Football World Cup. “The second trimester was difficult, with difficult comparisons due to the FIFA World Cup and a gloomy economic situation in several of our markets. Bad weather conditions, especially in the United States and China, have added to the pressure”, says AB InBev.
The gross operating surplus (EBITDA) was 4.16 billion dollars (3.78 billion euros), a fall of 14.4%. Analysts bank on a minimum EBITDA of 14.1 billion dollars.
Other gloomy signs: the total volumes have fallen by 2.2% for the trimester, the volumes of beer sold fell by 2.1%, and the volumes of non-beer products sold fell by 2.9%.
This fall “is mainly due to difficult comparisons linked to the World Cup, especially in Brazil and Europe, and a difficult commercial context in several countries. This has been partially compensated by a large increase in the volumes sold in Mexico and Latin America”, said the world’s number 1 brewery. It registered an “internal increase of products per hectolitre in line with inflation” in 2015.
(Source: Belga)
