AB Inbev Reports Second Quarter 2024 Results

Key Market Performances

United States: Improved market share trend, ongoing premiumization and productivity initiatives deliver double-digit bottom-line growth

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue declined by 0.6% with revenue per hl increasing by 2.2% driven by revenue management initiatives and premiumization. Sales-to-wholesalers (STWs) declined by 2.7% and sales-to-retailers (STRs) were down by 4.1%, estimated to be in-line with the industry as we cycled a challenging comparable in April but gained volume share of the industry in May and June. EBITDA grew by 17.5% with a margin improvement of approximately 500bps, driven by productivity initiatives and SG&A efficiencies.
  • HY24: Revenue declined by 5.0%, with revenue per hl increasing by 1.6%. Our STWs declined by 6.5% and STRs were down by 8.6%. EBITDA declined by 2.3%.
• Commercial highlights: The beer industry remained resilient this quarter, gaining share of total alcohol by value in the off-premise, according to Circana, although the alcohol category was negatively impacted by the phasing of key holidays and adverse weather. Our beer market share was estimated to be flattish in 2Q24, with our improved trend driven by Michelob Ultra and Busch Light, which were two of the top three volume share gainers in the industry. In Beyond Beer, our spirits-based ready-to-drink portfolio delivered volume growth in the high-teens, outperforming the industry. We continue to invest in and make progress on our commercial strategy to rebalance our portfolio with our above core beer and Beyond Beer brands generating approximately 45% of our revenue in 2Q24.

Mexico: Mid-single digit top-line and double-digit bottom-line growth with margin expansion

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue increased by mid-single digits, with low-single digit revenue per hl growth driven by revenue management initiatives. Volumes grew by mid-single digits, outperforming the industry. EBITDA grew by low-teens with continued margin expansion.
  • HY24: Revenue grew by mid-single digits with revenue per hl growth of low-single digits. Volumes increased by mid-single digits, outperforming the industry. EBITDA grew by high-single digits with margin expansion.
• Commercial highlights: Our core portfolio continued to outperform this quarter, delivering mid-single digit volume growth. Our above core portfolio delivered mid-single digit revenue growth, led by the strong performance of Modelo and Pacifico. We continued to progress our digital initiatives, with BEES Marketplace growing GMV by 15% versus 2Q23, and our digital DTC platform, TaDa Delivery, generating over 1.1 million orders, a 20% increase versus 2Q23.

Colombia: Record high volumes delivered double-digit top- and bottom-line growth with margin expansion

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue grew by mid-teens, with low-teens revenue per hl growth, driven by pricing actions and revenue management initiatives. Volumes grew by low-single digits, with our portfolio continuing to gain share of total alcohol. EBITDA grew by low-twenties with margin expansion.
  • HY24: Revenue grew by mid-teens with revenue per hl growth of low-teens. Volumes increased by mid-single digits. EBITDA grew by high-teens with margin expansion.
• Commercial highlights: Our premium and super premium brands led our performance in 2Q24, delivering high-twenties volume growth and driving record high second quarter volumes. Our mainstream beer portfolio delivered low-single digit volume growth with a strong performance from Aguila.

Brazil: Record high volumes delivered high-single digit top-line and double-digit bottom-line growth with margin expansion

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue grew by 8.0% with revenue per hl growth of 3.7% driven by revenue management initiatives. Total volumes grew by 4.1%, with beer volumes increasing by 2.9%. Non-beer volumes increased by 7.7%. EBITDA increased by 28.0% with margin expansion of 469bps.
  • HY24: Total volumes grew by 4.2% with beer volumes up by 3.2% and non-beer volumes up by 7.1%. Revenue grew by 6.9% with a revenue per hl increase of 2.5%. EBITDA grew by 21.9% with 387bps of margin expansion.
• Commercial highlights: Our premium and super premium brands continued to outperform the industry, delivering low-teens volume growth led by Corona and Spaten, and driving record high second quarter total volumes. Our core beer portfolio continued to grow, delivering a low-single digit volume increase. Non-beer performance was led by our low- and no-sugar portfolio, which grew volumes in the mid-teens. We continued to progress our digital initiatives, with BEES Marketplace growing GMV by 32% versus 2Q23, and our digital DTC platform, Zé Delivery, generating over 16 million orders in 2Q24, a 13% increase versus 2Q23.

Europe: High-single digit bottom-line growth with margin recovery

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue increased by low-single digits driven by volume growth of low-single digits, outperforming a soft industry according to our estimates. Revenue per hl declined by low-single digits, impacted by negative geographic mix and phasing of promotional activities. EBITDA grew by high-single digits with margin recovery.
  • HY24: Revenue increased by mid-single digits with revenue per hl growth of low-single digits. Volume grew by low-single digits, outperforming the industry according to our estimates. EBITDA grew by low-twenties with margin recovery driven by top-line growth and cost efficiencies.
• Commercial highlights: We continued to premiumize our portfolio in Europe, with our premium and super premium portfolio making up approximately 57% of our revenue in 2Q24. Our megabrands continued to drive our growth this quarter, led by Corona, which grew volume by double-digits, and Stella Artois, which successfully activated the Perfect Serve campaign at the Roland Garros and Wimbledon tennis tournaments.

South Africa: Record high volumes delivered double digit top- and bottom-line growth with margin expansion

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Revenue increased by low-teens, with revenue per hl growth of high-single digits, driven by pricing actions and continued premiumization. Volumes grew by mid-single digits, continuing to outperform the industry in both beer and Beyond Beer according to our estimates. EBITDA grew by low-thirties with margin expansion.
  • HY24: Revenue grew by mid-teens with high-single digit revenue per hl growth and a mid-single digit increase in volume, outperforming the industry in both beer and Beyond Beer according to our estimates. EBITDA increased by high-twenties with margin expansion.
• Commercial highlights : The momentum of our business continued, with our portfolio delivering another quarter of record high volumes and gaining share of both beer and total alcohol, according to our estimates. Our performance this quarter was led by our above core beer brands, which grew volumes by mid-teens driven by Corona and Stella Artois, and the continued volume growth of our core portfolio.

China: Revenue declined by double-digits, impacted by soft industry

• Operating performance:
  • 2Q24: Top-line performance was impacted by a combination of a soft industry, which cycled channel reopening in 2Q23, and adverse weather in key regions of our footprint. Revenue declined by 15.2% with volumes declining by 10.4% and revenue per hl decreasing by 5.4%. EBITDA declined by 17.1% with margin contraction of approximately 80bps.
  • HY24: Revenue declined by 9.4% with revenue per hl declining by 1.0% and volumes decreasing by 8.5%. EBITDA declined by 8.5% with margin expansion of 40bps.
• Commercial highlights: We continued to invest behind our commercial strategy, focused on premiumization, channel and geographic expansion, and digital transformation, even in the context of a soft start to the year for the industry. Our premium and super premium portfolio contributed approximately two-thirds of our revenue in HY24. The brand power of our portfolio combined with the long-term growth potential from further industry premiumization remains a compelling value creation opportunity. The roll out and adoption of the BEES platform continued, with BEES now present in 300 cities, enabling us to optimize our route to consumer and strengthen our customer relationships.

Highlights from our other markets

• Canada: Revenue declined by mid-single digits this quarter with revenue per hl growth of low-single digits, driven by revenue management initiatives and continued premiumization. Volumes declined by high-single digits, impacted by a soft industry.
• Peru: Revenue declined by low-single digits this quarter with revenue per hl growth of mid-single digits, driven by revenue management initiatives. Volumes declined by high-single digits, outperforming a soft industry according to our estimates, which was negatively impacted by adverse weather and Easter shipment phasing.
• Ecuador: Revenue increased slightly in 2Q24 with volumes declining by low-single digits as the industry was negatively impacted by shipment phasing ahead of Easter and an April sales tax increase. Our core beer brands outperformed, growing revenue by mid-single digits.
• Argentina: Volumes declined by low-twenties in 2Q24 as overall consumer demand was impacted by inflationary pressures. For FY24, the definition of organic revenue growth in Argentina has been amended to cap the price growth to a maximum of 2% per month. Revenue was flattish on this basis.
• Africa excluding South Africa: In Nigeria, our total volumes grew by mid-teens this quarter, cycling a soft industry in 2Q23. Revenue grew by strong double-digits, ahead of the industry according to our estimates, driven by revenue management initiatives in a highly inflationary environment. In our other markets in Africa, we grew revenue in aggregate by high-single digits in 2Q24, driven by Zambia, Uganda and Tanzania.
• South Korea: Revenue increased by high-teens in 2Q24 with revenue per hl growth of mid-teens, driven by revenue management initiatives and positive mix. Volumes grew by mid-single digits, outperforming the industry in both the on-premise and in-home channels, with performance led by our megabrands Cass, HANMAC and Stella Artois.

Consolidated Income Statement

Non-underlying items above EBIT & Non-underlying share of results of associates

Non-underlying share of results from associates of HY24 includes 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 HY24 includes mark-to-market losses 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, and a 43 million USD gain related to the completion of tender offers of notes issued by the company and certain of its subsidiaries.

The number of shares covered by the hedging of our share-based payment program, the deferred share instrument and the restricted shares are shown in figure 7, together with the opening and closing share prices.

Income tax expense

The 2Q23 and 2Q24 effective tax rates were negatively impacted by non-deductible losses 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.

Furthermore, the HY24 effective tax rate includes 133 million USD of non-underlying tax expenses, reflecting mainly the impact of a 240 million USD (4.5 billion ZAR) non-underlying tax cost following the resolution of the South African tax matters as described in note 21 Contingencies of the HY24 Unaudited Interim Report and the release of tax provisions.

Basic and underlying EPS

Reconciliation between normalized EBITDA and profit attributable to equity holders

Normalized EBITDA and normalized EBIT are measures utilized by AB InBev to demonstrate the company's underlying performance.

Normalized EBITDA is calculated excluding the following effects from profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev: (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.

Normalized EBITDA and normalized EBIT 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. Normalized EBITDA and normalized EBIT do not have a standard calculation method and AB InBev's definition of normalized EBITDA and normalized EBIT may not be comparable to that of other companies.

Financial position

HY24 recorded a decrease in cash and cash equivalents of 2 476 million USD compared to a decrease of 3 287 million USD in HY23, with the following movements:

• Our cash flow from operating activities reached 2 568 million USD in HY24 compared to 1 597 million USD in HY23. The increase was driven by increased profit for the period and changes in working capital for HY24 compared to HY23. Changes in working capital in the first half of 2024 and 2023 reflect higher working capital levels at the end of June than at year-end as a result of seasonality.
• Our cash outflow from investing activities was 1 732 million USD in HY24 compared to a cash outflow of 2 089 million USD in HY23. The decrease in the cash outflow was mainly due to lower net capital expenditures in HY24 compared to HY23. Out of the total HY24 capital expenditures, approximately 42% was used to improve the company's production facilities while 40% was used for logistics and commercial investments and 18% was used for the purchase of hardware and software and improving administrative capabilities.
• Our cash outflow from financing activities amounted to 3 313 million USD in HY24, as compared to a cash outflow of 2 795 million USD in HY23. The increase in the cash outflow versus HY23 was primarily driven by the completion of our 1 billion USD share buyback program, a 0.2 billion USD direct share buyback from Altria, and the acquisition of additional non-controlling interests in Cervecería Nacional Dominicana S.A. for a net consideration of 0.3 billion US dollar.

Our net debt increased to 70.4 billion USD as of 30 June 2024 from 67.6 billion USD as of 31 December 2023.

Our net debt to normalized EBITDA ratio was 3.42x as of 30 June 2024. Our optimal capital structure is a net debt to normalized EBITDA ratio of around 2x.

We continue to proactively manage our debt portfolio. 99% of our bond portfolio holds a fixed-interest rate, 43% is denominated in currencies other than USD and maturities are well-distributed across the next several years.

As of 30 June 2024, we had total liquidity of 17.7 billion USD, which consisted of 10.1 billion USD available under committed long-term credit facilities and 7.6 billion USD of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments in debt securities less bank overdrafts.

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. For FY24, 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, Corona and Michelob Ultra, 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-beer 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 HY24, we reported a negative impact from hyperinflation accounting on the profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev of 81 million USD. The impact in HY24 Basic EPS was -0.04 USD. Values in the figures and annexes may not add up, due to rounding. 2Q24 and HY24 EPS is based upon a weighted average of 2 005 million shares compared to a weighted average of 2 016 million shares for 2Q23 and HY23.

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”,“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 11 March 2024. 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 the ongoing conflict in Russia and Ukraine and in the Middle East, including the conflict in the Red Sea. 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 second quarter 2024 (2Q24) and half year 2024 (HY24) financial data set out in Figure 1 (except for the volume information), Figures 3 to 5, 6, 8, 9, 12 and 13 of this press release have been extracted from the group's unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements as of and for the six months ended 30 June 2024, 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, 10, 11 and 14 have been extracted from the underlying accounting records as of and for the six months ended 30 June 2024 (except for the volume information). References in this document to materials on our websites, such as , 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, 1 August 2024:
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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 155,000 colleagues based in nearly 50 countries worldwide. For 2023, AB InBev's reported revenue was 59.4 billion USD (excluding JVs and associates).

Annex 1: Segment reporting (2Q)

Annex 2: Segment reporting (HY)

Annex 3: Consolidated statement of financial position

Annex 4: Consolidated statement of cash flows

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