World Cup football saves AB InBev's year

European sales disappoint

AB InBev did not perform as well everywhere: European volumes dropped 6 % to 44.278 million hectoliters, while North American sales dropped 1.3 % to 121.150 million hectoliters.

These losses were countered by improved sales in the Latin America North region: thanks to the World Cup, Brazilian turnover grew 4.1 % to 125.418 million hectoliters, while Mexican turnover grew 1.6 % to 38.800 million hectoliters. Asian turnover grew 1.7 % to 82.529 million hectoliters.

In Belgium, AB InBev’s home territory, sales remained level thanks to the Red Devils’ excellent performance at the World Cup. AB InBev Belgium also managed to boost its wholesale market share in its fourth quarter. For its full fiscal year, AB InBev expects to keep its market share stable.

Profit up 11.7 %

The brewery group’s 2014 turnover reached 47.063 billion dollars (just under 41.5 billion euro), up 5.9 % compared to the year before. Not only has it managed a slight volume increase, it has also managed to increase its profit per hectoliter 5.3 % – and even 7.6 % in its fourth quarter. In the end, that resulted in a 8.9 billion dollar profit (7.8 billion euro), up 11.7 % compared to 2013.

That is why the board of directors wants to propose its shareholders to pay an additional 2 euro dividend, in total 3 euro per share, compared to 2.05 last year. The company also wants to buy back 1 billion dollars’ worth of its own shares, which means that future profit is split over fewer brands.

AB InBev expects profit per hectoliter to grow in 2015, in line with the expected inflation.