Brazilian brewer Ambev has reported a third-quarter net profit beat thanks to positive momentum in its home market and reaffirmed an outlook of growing revenues and EBITDA in the second half by more than in the first one.
Ambev posted a quarterly net income of R$ 3.21 billion (€600 million), down 13.4% from a year earlier but ahead of estimates as analysts had forecast it to reach R$ 2.48 billion (€470 million), according to a poll by Refinitiv.
Quarterly Highlights
The subsidiary of Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev said that net revenue jumped 11.3% in the period, while volumes sold increased by 1.3%, marking a new record for a third quarter.
"Our Brazil businesses continue to build momentum, delivering double-digit revenue and EBITDA growth, which more than offset continued headwinds in some of our international operations," CEO Jean Jereissati said in a media release.
Ambev said that its beer business in Brazil was still benefited by the post-pandemic reopening and posted flat volumes on a yearly basis, despite a strong showing a year ago.
On the other hand, businesses in Central America and the Caribbean had a weak quarter as soaring inflation and supply chain disruptions continued to take their toll, with costs and expenses growing on the back of higher commodity and freight prices, the company said.
Performance Exceeds Expectations
Analysts at JPMorgan welcomed the overall results, highlighting Ambev's Brazil operations by saying beer volumes exceeded their optimistic expectations and came with a solid average price increase, showing that the market was resilient.
They expect a strong fourth quarter ahead as Ambev's management reiterated its revenues and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) growth forecast for the second half, also boosted by the Qatar World Cup.
Ambev is Brazil's fourth-largest company by market capitalisation, behind only oil giant Petrobras, miner Vale and lender Itau.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more drinks news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
