After disappointing results last year following the purchase of rival SABMiller, which even made AB InBev boss Carlos Brito lose his yearly bonus for the first time ever (inside.beer, 6.3.2017), the multinational beverage group has finally achieved a turnaround.
The figures for the second quarter of 2017 released today show an overall revenue increase of 5.0% (half-year 2017 + 4.4%) and even 8.9% higher combined revenues of the three global beer brands, Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona. The normalized EBITDA grew by 9.0% to $10.16 billion in the first half of 2007 and by a remarkable 11.8%, if only the second quarter of 2017 is considered.
Strong growth in China, Mexico, Colombia and South Africa, which are partly new markets for AB InBev, have boosted the figures, with Brazil “still representing a challenge for the beer industry”. However, the company is “cautiously optimistic for the year” as the latest quarterly figures are "promising" according to company sources.
The Group's total volume sales of beverages for the first half of 2017 amounted to 305.6 million hl, representing an organic growth of + 0.3%. Considering only AB InBev’s own beer brands, volume growth was even higher with + 1.0% to 248.2 million hl.
“The integration with SAB continues to go as planned, with additional synergy capture this quarter of 335 million USD coming primarily from all […] new markets,” said the company in a press release. The total expected synergies from last year’s $100 billion purchase of rival SABMiller purchase was raised from $2.45 to $2.8 billion.
