LONDON: Anheuser-Busch InBev NV plans to buy back $1 billion of shares after fourth-quarter earnings missed estimates as the world’s biggest brewer spent more on marketing to counter weak US consumption.
AB InBev will repurchase the shares this year, the Leuven, Belgium-based maker of Budweiser, Brahma and Corona said on Thursday in a statement. Earnings before interest, taxes, amortisation and depreciation, excluding some items, were $5.07 billion, missing the $5.27 billion median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
AB InBev said beer industry volume in the US, its largest market, will continue to improve this year after halting a decline in the fourth quarter. Beer is increasingly losing market share there to spirits as a 15-year decline has worsened recently, according to Sanford C. Bernstein. In response, the company is introducing flavoured beers and ciders to win over consumers who eschew traditional brews.
Priority No. 1 in the US for 2015 has to be to stabilise Budweiser,” Philip Gorham, an analyst at Morningstar., said by email.
AB InBev traded 0.8 percent lower at 109.35 euros as of 9:04 a.m. in Brussels. The shares have gained 43 percent in the past year, compared with a 27 percent advance in SABMiller. Heineken NV has risen 40 percent.
