Anheuser-Busch InBev will report results for its fourth quarter and full year tomorrow (3 March). Here, just-drinks brings you highlights of the company’s news in the three months to the end of December.
- In early-October, A-B InBev saw its long-running spat with Mexico’s Grupo Modelo take a curious twist in the UK. The Mexican company, which has disputed A-B InBev’s claim to Anheuser-Busch’s 50% non-controlling stake in Modelo, picked Molson Coors over A-B InBev for the distribution of its beer brands in the UK and Japan. The move was seen by just-drinks as a “slap in the face” to A-B InBev, which has a strong presence in the UK on- and off-trade.
- A closer look at A-B InBev’s Q3 performance revealed that Brazil was the powerhouse in the three-month period. As volumes rose for the brewer in the country, just-drinks considered that Brazil could soon overtake the US in volume terms for A-B InBev.
- Speaking of Brazil, SABMiller’s purchase of Argentina’s third largest brewer, Casa Isenbeck, in late-November got several observers quite excited about a brewers’ battle in South America. Could the move see SABMiller look to compete with A-B InBev in neighbouring Brazil in the near future?
- The company was involved in a spate of numbers activity in the quarter: In early-November, it raised around US$440m from a bond issue in Brazilian reais (BRL). This was followed in December by a private note placement in Canada with a view to raising around $600m. Finally, also in December, the brewer’s Brazilian unit, AmBev, confirmed plans to increase the number of its shares five-fold, thereby raising the number of issued shares to 3.1m.