Anheuser-Busch InBev’s Q3 & YTD results – Preview

On Friday, Anheuser-Busch InBev will announce its third-quarter and year-to-date results. Here, just-drinks looks at the global beer company’s activities in the three months to the end of September.

• Once again, the quarter was dominated by the company’s (now completed) takeover of SABMiller.
• In July, an analyst speculated that an influx of investors into SABMiller may force AB InBev to raise its takeover bid. A few days later, the brewer upped its offer for SABMiller to GBP79bn (then US$103bn)
• Later in July, the US anti-trust authorities sought to rein in AB InBev’s distribution clout in the country, as they gave conditional approval to the brewer’s SABMiller takeover. At the same time, the company said it would drop a controversial US wholesaler incentive scheme to comply with conditions for its takeover of SABMiller
• At the end of the month, AB InBev received conditional approval from China’s Ministry of Commerce for the purchase of SABMiller
• On the same day, SABMiller said its board intended to recommend AB InBev’s revised offer of GBP45 per share, leading in early August to a timetable of events that would result in the formation of MegaBrew
• Later in August, AB InBev said its executive committee would retain only one SABMiller employee as it prepared a clear-out of the takeover target’s staff and global offices
• Towards the end of August, Craft Brew Alliance strengthened its tie-up with major shareholder AB InBev, which could see the brewing giant launch a takeover within the next three years 
• At the end of the month, AB InBev said it would start cutting 5,500 jobs from its combined global workforce once it completed its takeover of SABMiller
• In September, the US Justice Department’s anti-trust division said it would monitor AB InBev’s craft acquisitions as well as its distribution obligations as authorities looked to preserve competition in the beer industry
• At the same time, the firm took full control of Belgian craft brewer Bosteels Brewery
• Next up, AB InBev entered the FAB market with the acquisition of SpikedSeltzer in the US
• At the end of September, both AB InBev and SABMiller shareholders approved the MegaBrew deal. Meanwhile, AB InBev confirmed the new entity would retain the Anheuser-Busch InBev name.

H1 & Q2 results highlights: 

• H1 net profits fell 40% to US$2.57bn
• Net sales in the six months to the end of June slipped 6% to $20.2bn, up 3.6% organically
• Operating profits (EBITDA) down 8% to $7.47bn, up 3.4% organically
• Volumes dipped 2%
• Q2 net profits fell 13% to $1.73bn
• Net sales in the three months to the end of June were down 2% to $10.8bn, up 4% organically
• Operating profits (EBITDA) fell 3.5% to $4bn, up 4.3% organically
• Volumes dipped 1.6%

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