Anheuser-Busch InBev (NV/SA AHBIF.PK, BUD) Tuesday said first-quarter profit increased from the prior year, while revenue dropped marginally.
Profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev rose to $2.051 billion from $1.666 billion. Earnings per share increased to $1.28 from $1.04.
Excluding items, normalized profit attributable to equity holders of the company increased to $1.853 billion from $1.651 billion, amid lower net finance costs and a lower effective tax rate. Earnings per share rose to $1.16 from $1.03.
The company attributed the increase to other financial results of $295 million, which include a gain of $402 million linked to the hedging of share based payment programs.
On average, 4 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.94 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Revenue dropped to $9.169 billion from $9.332 billion in the previous year. Analysts expected revenues of $9.57 billion.
Organic growth was 1.5 percent with strong revenue per hl growth of 5.8 percent, driven by management initiatives and the benefit of premiumization of portfolio. On a constant geographic basis, revenue per hl grew by 6.9 percent.
Other operating income climbed to $193 million from $125 million, mainly due to higher government incentives linked to investments in Brazil.
The company revised its outlook for volume growth in Brazil and now expects that beer industry volumes in fiscal 2013 will be either flat or down low single-digits compared to the prior year.
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