BRUSSELS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2025--
Anheuser-Busch InBev (Brussel:ABI) (BMV:ANB) (JSE:ANH) (NYSE:BUD):
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Regulated information 1
“Beer is a passion point for consumers. The strength of the beer category and the continued momentum of our megabrands delivered another quarter of profitable growth. EBITDA increased at the top-end of our outlook and the ongoing optimization of our business drove Underlying EPS growth of 7.1%. The consistent execution of our strategy by our teams and partners drove a solid start to the year and reinforces our confidence in delivering on our outlook for 2025.” – Michel Doukeris, CEO, AB InBev
Management comments
Solid start to the year with EBITDA growth at the top-end of our outlook, continued margin expansion and high-single digit Underlying EPS growth
Our business delivered another quarter of solid financial performance in 1Q25. EBITDA increased by 7.9% with margin expansion of 218bps driven by top-line growth, cost of sales tailwinds and disciplined overhead management. Underlying EPS was 0.81 USD, a 7.1% increase in USD and a 20.2% increase in constant currency versus 1Q24, driven by 10.3% EBIT growth and the continued optimization of our net finance costs.
Top-line increased by 1.5%, with revenue growth in approximately 50% of our markets, driven by a revenue per hl increase of 3.7% as a result of disciplined revenue management choices and ongoing premiumization. We increased our overall portfolio brand power driven by increased marketing investment and effectiveness. In addition, we estimate that we gained or maintained market share in 60% of our markets. Volume performance was, however, impacted by calendar-related factors such as cycling the leap year selling-day benefit in 1Q24 and Easter shipment phasing, resulting in a decline of 2.2%.
Progressing our strategic priorities
We continue to execute on and invest in three key strategic pillars to deliver consistent growth and long-term value creation.
(1) Lead and grow the category:
We increased our overall portfolio brand power driven by increased marketing investment and effectiveness. In addition, we estimate that we gained or maintained market share in 60% of our markets.
(2) Digitize and monetize our ecosystem:
BEES Marketplace captured 645 million USD in GMV from sales of third-party products, a 53% increase versus 1Q24. Overall BEES GMV increased by 10%, reaching 11.6 billion USD.
(3) Optimize our business:
Underlying EPS was 0.81 USD, a 7.1% increase in USD and a 20.2% increase in constant currency terms versus 1Q24, driven by 10.3% EBIT growth and the continued optimization of our net finance costs.
(1) Lead and grow the category
We are executing on our five replicable levers to drive category growth. Our performance across each of the levers was led by our megabrands which delivered a 4.4% revenue increase.
(2) Digitize and monetize our ecosystem
(3) Optimize our business
Delivering reliable compounding growth
We are encouraged by our results to start the year, the resilience of the beer category and the consistent execution of our strategy by our teams and partners. Our business is local, with more than 98% of our volume locally produced, and our footprint has structural tailwinds for long-term volume growth with favorable demographics, ongoing economic development and opportunities to increase category participation. Our consistent performance and the fundamental strengths of our business reinforce our confidence in our ability to deliver reliable compounding growth and create a future with more cheers.
2025 Outlook
(i) Overall Performance: We expect our EBITDA to grow in line with our medium-term outlook of between 4-8%. The outlook for FY25 reflects our current assessment of inflation and other macroeconomic conditions.
(ii) Net Finance Costs: Net pension interest expenses and accretion expenses are expected to be in the range of 190 to 220 million USD per quarter, depending on currency and interest rate fluctuations. We expect the average gross debt coupon in FY25 to be approximately 4%.
(iii) Effective Tax Rate (ETR): We expect the normalized ETR in FY25 to be in the range of 26% to 28%. The ETR outlook does not consider the impact of potential future changes in legislation.
(iv) Net Capital Expenditure: We expect net capital expenditure of between 3.5 and 4.0 billion USD in FY25.
Key Markets Performance
United States: Michelob Ultra growth drove continued market share gain
Mexico: Revenue growth and margin expansion drove double-digit bottom-line growth
Colombia: Record high volumes drove double-digit bottom-line growth
Brazil: Continued momentum drove double-digit bottom-line growth with margin expansion and all-time high volumes
Europe: Continued premiumization and margin recovery drove double-digit bottom-line growth
South Africa: Continued momentum and market share gain delivered another quarter of top- and bottom-line growth
China: Performance impacted by soft industry in our footprint
Highlights from our other markets
Consolidated Income Statement
Non-underlying items above EBIT & Non-underlying share of results of associates
Normalized EBIT excludes negative non-underlying items of 49 million USD in 1Q25 and 29 million USD in 1Q24. Non-underlying share of results from associates of 1Q24 included the impact from our associate Anadolu Efes’ adoption of IAS 29 hyperinflation accounting on their 2023 results.
Net finance income/(cost)
Non-underlying net finance income/(cost)
Non-underlying net finance cost in 1Q25 includes mark-to-market gains on derivative instruments entered into in order to hedge our share-based payment programs and shares issued in relation to the combination with Grupo Modelo and SAB.
The number of shares covered by the hedging of our share-based payment program, the deferred share instrument and the restricted shares are shown below, together with the opening and closing share prices.
Income tax expense
The 1Q25 effective tax rate was positively impacted by non-taxable gains from derivatives related to the hedging of share-based payment programs and of the shares issued in a transaction related to the combination with Grupo Modelo and SAB, while the 1Q24 effective tax rate was negatively impacted by non-deductible losses from these derivatives.
Furthermore, the 1Q24 effective tax rate includes 240 million USD (4.5 billion ZAR) non-underlying tax cost following the resolution in 1Q24 of the South African tax matters described in note 29 Contingencies of the 2024 Consolidated Financial Statements.
The decrease in Normalized ETR in 1Q25 compared to 1Q24 is driven mainly by country mix.
Underlying EPS
Reconciliation of IFRS and Non-IFRS Financial Measures
Profit attributable to equity holders and Underlying Profit
Basic and Underlying EPS
Profit attributable to equity holders and Normalized EBITDA
Normalized EBITDA, Normalized EBIT and Underlying Profit are non-IFRS financial measures used by AB InBev to reflect the company’s underlying performance. Underlying EPS and constant currency Underlying EPS are non-IFRS financial measures that AB InBev believes are useful to investors because they facilitate comparisons of EPS from period to period.
Normalized EBITDA is calculated by adjusting profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev to exclude: (i) non-controlling interest; (ii) income tax expense; (iii) share of results of associates; (iv) non-underlying share of results of associates; (v) net finance income or cost; (vi) non-underlying net finance income or cost; (vii) non-underlying items above EBIT; and (viii) depreciation, amortization and impairment.
Underlying Profit is calculated by adjusting profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev to exclude: (i) non-underlying items and (ii) hyperinflation impacts. Underlying EPS is calculated as Underlying Profit divided by the weighted average number of ordinary and restricted shares. Constant currency Underlying EPS is calculated as Underlying EPS excluding the effects of foreign currency translation by translating current period figures using the exchange rates from the same period in the prior year.
Normalized EBITDA, Normalized EBIT and Underlying Profit are not accounting measures under IFRS and should not be considered as an alternative to profit attributable to equity holders as a measure of operational performance, or an alternative to cash flow as a measure of liquidity. Underlying EPS and constant currency Underlying EPS are not accounting measures under IFRS and should not be considered as alternatives to earnings per share as a measure of operating performance on a per share basis. These non-IFRS financial measures do not have a standard calculation method and AB InBev’s definition of Normalized EBITDA, Normalized EBIT, Underlying Profit, Underlying EPS and constant currency Underlying EPS may not be comparable to that of other companies.
Notes
To facilitate the understanding of AB InBev’s underlying performance, the analyses of growth, including all comments in this press release, unless otherwise indicated, are based on organic growth and normalized numbers. In other words, financials are analyzed eliminating the impact of changes in currencies on translation of foreign operations, and scope changes. Since 1Q24, the definition of organic revenue growth has been amended to cap the price growth in Argentina to a maximum of 2% per month (26.8% year-over-year). Corresponding adjustments are made to all income statement related items in the organic growth calculations through scope changes. Scope changes also represent the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, the start or termination of activities or the transfer of activities between segments, curtailment gains and losses and year over year changes in accounting estimates and other assumptions that management does not consider as part of the underlying performance of the business. The organic growth of our global brands, Budweiser, Stella Artois, and Corona excludes exports to Australia for which a perpetual license was granted to a third party upon disposal of the Australia operations in 2020. All references per hectoliter (per hl) exclude US non-beverage activities. Whenever presented in this document, all performance measures (EBITDA, EBIT, profit, tax rate, EPS) are presented on a “normalized” basis, which means they are presented before non-underlying items. Non-underlying items are either income or expenses which do not occur regularly as part of the normal activities of the Company. They are presented separately because they are important for the understanding of the underlying sustainable performance of the Company due to their size or nature. Normalized measures are additional measures used by management and should not replace the measures determined in accordance with IFRS as an indicator of the Company’s performance. We are reporting the results from Argentina applying hyperinflation accounting since 3Q18. The IFRS rules (IAS 29) require us to restate the year-to-date results for the change in the general purchasing power of the local currency, using official indices before converting the local amounts at the closing rate of the period. In 1Q25, we reported a negative impact from hyperinflation accounting on the profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev of (23) million USD. The impact in 1Q25 Basic EPS was (0.01) USD. Values in the figures and annexes may not add up, due to rounding. 1Q25 EPS is based upon a weighted average of 1 994 million shares compared to a weighted average of 2 007 million shares for 1Q24.
Legal disclaimer
This release contains “forward-looking statements”. These statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events and developments of the management of AB InBev and are naturally subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances. The forward-looking statements contained in this release include statements other than historical facts and include statements typically containing words such as “will”, “may”, “should”, “believe”, “intends”, “expects”, “anticipates”, “targets”, “ambition”, “estimates”, “likely”, “foresees” and words of similar import. All statements other than statements of historical facts are forward-looking statements. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect the current views of the management of AB InBev, are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties about AB InBev and are dependent on many factors, some of which are outside of AB InBev’s control. There are important factors, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to be materially different, including, but not limited to the risks and uncertainties relating to AB InBev that are described under Item 3.D of AB InBev’s Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC on 12 March 2025. Many of these risks and uncertainties are, and will be, exacerbated by any further worsening of the global business and economic environment, including as a result of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations and ongoing geopolitical conflicts. Other unknown or unpredictable factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included elsewhere, including AB InBev’s most recent Form 20-F and other reports furnished on Form 6-K, and any other documents that AB InBev has made public. Any forward-looking statements made in this communication are qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments anticipated by AB InBev will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, AB InBev or its business or operations. Except as required by law, AB InBev undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. The first quarter 2025 (1Q25) financial data set out in Figure 1 (except for the volume information), Figures 3 to 6, 8, 11 and 12 of this press release have been extracted from the group’s unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements as of and for the three months ended 31 March 2025, which have been reviewed by our statutory auditors PwC Réviseurs d’Entreprises SRL / PwC Bedrijfsrevisoren BV in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States). Financial data included in Figures 7, 9 and 11 have been extracted from the underlying accounting records as of and for the three months ended 31 March 2025. References in this document to materials on our websites, such as www.ab-inbev.com, are included as an aid to their location and are not incorporated by reference into this document.
Conference call and webcast
Investor Conference call and webcast on Thursday, 8 May 2025:
3.00pm Brussels / 2.00pm London / 9.00am New York
Registration details:
Webcast (listen-only mode):
AB InBev 1Q25 Results Webcast
To join by phone, please use one of the following two phone numbers:
Toll-Free: +1-877-407-8029
Toll: +1-201-689-8029
About AB InBev
Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) is a publicly traded company (Euronext: ABI) based in Leuven, Belgium, with secondary listings on the Mexico (MEXBOL: ANB) and South Africa (JSE: ANH) stock exchanges and with American Depositary Receipts on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BUD). As a company, we dream big to create a future with more cheers. We are always looking to serve up new ways to meet life’s moments, move our industry forward and make a meaningful impact in the world. We are committed to building great brands that stand the test of time and to brewing the best beers using the finest ingredients. Our diverse portfolio of well over 500 beer brands includes global brands Budweiser®, Corona®, Stella Artois® and Michelob Ultra®; multi-country brands Beck’s®, Hoegaarden® and Leffe®; and local champions such as Aguila®, Antarctica®, Bud Light®, Brahma®, Cass®, Castle®, Castle Lite®, Cristal®, Harbin®, Jupiler®, Modelo Especial®, Quilmes®, Victoria®, Sedrin®, and Skol®. Our brewing heritage dates back more than 600 years, spanning continents and generations. From our European roots at the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium. To the pioneering spirit of the Anheuser & Co brewery in St. Louis, US. To the creation of the Castle Brewery in South Africa during the Johannesburg gold rush. To Bohemia, the first brewery in Brazil. Geographically diversified with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets, we leverage the collective strengths of approximately 144 000 colleagues based in nearly 50 countries worldwide. For 2024, AB InBev’s reported revenue was 59.8 billion USD (excluding JVs and associates).
Annex 1: Segment reporting
AB InBev Strategic Priorities
