Premium beers earn AB InBev higher profit on lower volumes

Belgian beer giant AB InBev saw its sales volumes drop this summer, as a right-wing boycott cost Bud Light its status as market leader in the United States. Salvation came from premium beers.

Expensive boycott

Despite volumes falling by 3.4 %, AB InBev saw its revenue go up by 5 % and profit by 4.1 %& last quarter. The world’s largest brewery group sold 151.9 million hectolitres of beer, accounting for 15.6 billion dollars (14.5 billion euros) in revenue. EBITDA excluding currency effects climbed 4.1 %, although in absolute terms there was only 2 % growth to 5.43 billion dollars (five billion euros).

The revenue growth had to major causes: price increases and an increased focusing on premium beers. The beer giant found itself as a target of right-wing America earlier this year, when leading lager brand Bud Light launched a campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. The attempt to appeal to the TikTok generation was an abysmal failure as conservative far-right Americans went on an ongoing boycott.

Cage fights

North American volumes (accounting for a quarter) already plummeted 14 % in the second quarter and now fell by another 17 %. Rival Modelo Especial has now even taken over market leadership. In trying to win back appeal from Trumpist America, AB InBev is now sponsoring cage fights, where the former president also likes to show off.

For the full financial year, the brewing giant is counting on an EBITDA growth of between 4 and 8 %, after a 7.3 % growth in the first nine months of the year, meaning the final quarter does not promise to be a high-flyer for the group. AB InBev is also reorganising, cutting 400 of its 18,000 jobs in the US