Beer brewers profit from thirsty summer

2018’s hot summer has boosted sales for brewers around the world. Heineken and Carlsberg are toasting their excellent results, while AB InBev is dealing with a South American hangover.

AB InBev: results under pressure

AB InBev sold 146 million hectoliter in the third quarter, almost 130 million of which were of their own beers. Those beers, including international brands Stella, Budweiser and Corona, performed especially well in Europe and Mexico as well as many of the African markets. That growth was largely nullified by the Brazilian results (where AB InBev is losing its market share) and Argentina (which is suffering from hyperinflation). Overall only a 0.5 % growth remained.

That brings the quarterly turnover to 13.3 billion dollar (11.6 billion euro, +4.5 %). In the end profit came down to 1.61 billion dollar (1.4 billion euro), noticeably lower than the 2.58 billion dollar from the same period a year earlier: this explains why the group announced today that it would be slicing its dividend in half so as not to jeopardise its deleveraging programme.

Heineken en Carlsberg in top shape

Dutch Heineken sold 62.6 million hectoliter beer, causing a growth of 4.6 % . According to Belgian CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer, that growth is due to the great summer and strong growth in Brazil (where Heineken is gnawing at AB InBev’s market share), Mexico, South Africa and Vietnam . Yearly profit is currently already at 1.6 billion euro, exceeding last year’s 1.5 billion euro over the same period.

The results of that other large brewer, Denmark’s Carlsberg, are only released on 1 November. In an intermediate statement, Dutch CEO Cees ‘t Hart already announced that profit and turnover will be higher due to the pleasant summer. The increase is said to be so high that the group is raising its profit expectations for the entire year.