what a story
AB InBev, the world's largest brewer, saw a sharp decline in US sales amid a political controversy over a marketing campaign aimed at reducing total sales in the second quarter.
The group said US sales fell 10.5% in the second quarter and EBITDA in the country fell 28.2% "mainly due to lower bud light volumes".
Bud Light's slump in sales has been linked to a consumer boycott of the brand in the US following the use of transgender Dylan Mulvaney in a marketing campaign.
Despite the decline in overall sales, AB InBev highlighted: "Since April, we have actively engaged with more than 170,000 consumers nationwide through outside research firms, and data shows that the majority of consumers surveyed support the Bud Light brand and nearly 80%. supportive” or neutral.
Overall, total sales rose 7.2% in the second quarter, with sales per hectoliter up 9% driven by price and premium.
Second-quarter volume fell 1.4%, with outright beer volumes down 1.8% and non-beer volumes up 0.5%, impacted by lower North American volumes. North.
EBITDA increased 5.0% with margins contracting by 69 basis points due to expected raw material cost constraints and higher investment in sales and marketing.
During the first six months of the year, normalized EBITDA increased 9.1% to $9.7 billion, but margins narrowed 29 basis points to 33% due to the occasional impact of the tax credit in Brazil.
In the first half of this year, sales increased by 10%, and hourly sales increased by 10.6%.
AB InBev expects EBITDA to grow between 4% and 8%, in line with its mid-term guidance, with revenue growing faster than EBITDA on a healthy volume and price mix.
"Our business delivered a quarter of profitable growth," said AB InBev Chief Executive Officer Michel Duceris. "We continue to invest in our long-term strategic priorities."
AB InBev shares are up 2.6% this morning at €52.39.
morning update
Pets in the home experienced double-digit growth in consumer sales in the first quarter, driven by value and volume growth.
Consumer sales increased by 10.2% to £568.2 million, supported by continued growth in the active VIP base, which grew by 4% to £7.7 million.
Total group sales rose 7.9% to £436.8 million, with like-for-like sales up 7.9%.
Retail sales growth was 7.1%, with wholesale volumes continuing to grow in the premium and wholesale categories, contributing to further relative price growth.
Accessory trends are consistent with the previous quarter.
Vet Group revenue increased 16.3%, driven by higher visit volume (as we increased vet capacity), better mix and continued growth in average costs.
The forecast for the whole year remains unchanged. The group is pleased with analysts' expectations at the moment, but warns that first half net profit will include the additional costs of building a new distribution center (£6m) and relaunching the brand (£2m). .
In addition, decided to consolidate its veterinary and retail offices. This move will result in a one-time transition fee of £3 million at the end of the year.
"Our performance in the first quarter was very encouraging," said CEO Lissa McGowan. “The quality of our growth remains strong as we increase transaction volumes and continue to acquire new customers at an impressive pace as our value, variety and attractive services continue to resonate with consumers.
“Also compared to our strategic plan that we made in May, that is a quarter of steady deliveries. We have expanded and modernized our physical fleet, made good progress with the development of our digital platform and are continuing the transition to our current new distribution center.” Fulfill our goal of building the best pet care platform in the world.
In this morning's market, the FTSE 100 extended its losses from yesterday, dropping 1.3% to 7,460.3.
This morning's climbers include Hotels Chocolat, up 3.3% to 114.7p, Greencore, up 1.7% to 89.3p and AG Barr, up 0.8% to 489.6p :
Losers included Nichols, down 4.3% to 1,005p, Ocado, down 2.4% to 863.8p, and Just Eat Takeaway.com, which fell 2.1% to 1,282p.
yesterday in town
The FTSE 100 fell 1.4% to 7,561.6 yesterday as a surprise drop in US credit triggered a sell-off in international stocks.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners rose 4.8% to 60.25 euros due to progress in talks to purchase Coca-Cola Philippines bottlers from The Coca-Cola Company. The deal could be worth up to 1.8 billion (£1.4 billion).
Haleon fell 2.5% to 321.7 pence, although the company raised its full-year earnings forecast after posting double-digit growth in the first half.
The Kerry Group rose 0.8% to €91.45 after posting a "good performance" in the first half as sales were boosted by higher prices and acquisitions.
