Stella Artois brewer AB InBev sells less beer despite World Cup

The world’s largest brewer, AB InBev, has posted its first slump in beer volumes since the pandemic over the past quarter despite the benefit of the football world cup.

The Stella Artois and Budweiser maker said bad weather impacted its US business, while its Chinese operation was still impacted by Covid-19 restrictions.

It revealed that volumes decreased by 0.6% over the final quarter of 2022, compared against the same period last year.

However, profits were slightly higher than expected after price increases offset the dip in volumes.

Underlying profit hit 1.7 billion US dollars (£1.4 billion) for the quarter despite continued pressure from cost inflation.

AB InBev, which also makes Corona and Leffe, said this came after higher pricing drove a 10.2% increase in total revenues over the latest three-month period.

In Europe, the brewer saw revenues increase by double-digits as it benefited from the recovery of demand from pubs, restaurants and bars, as well as continued growth for premium drinks.

Michel Doukeris, chief executive officer of AB InBev, said: “We delivered all-time high full-year volumes with accelerated revenue per hl (hectolitre), resulting in 11.2% annual revenue growth and earnings growth at the top-end of our outlook.”

RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones said: “Our view: We hope this is no more than a speed bump on AB InBev’s road to rehabilitation, but Q4 was not great.

“Organic volume, revenue and earnings growth, as well as normalised earnings per share (so before hedging), all missed company compiled consensus with the volume shortfall across most regions.

“We believe that AB InBev’s operational performance has potential to improve meaningfully given its dominant market positions.”