SAO PAULO, Aug. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Companhia de Bebidas das Americas - AmBev [BOVESPA: AMBV4, AMBV3; and NYSE: ABV, ABVc], announces today its results for the 2009 second quarter (Q2 2009). The following financial and operating information, unless otherwise indicated, is presented in nominal Reais and prepared in accordance with International Financial and Reporting Standards (IFRS), and should be read in conjunction with our quarterly financial information for the three and six months period ended June 30, 2009 filed with the CVM and submitted to the SEC. This press release segregates the impact of organic changes from those arising from changes in scope or currency translation. Scopes represent the impact of acquisitions and divestitures and the start-up or termination of activities. Whenever used in this document, the term "normalized" refers to performance measures (EBITDA, EBIT, Net income, EPS) before non-recurring items. Non-recurring 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. Comparisons, unless otherwise stated, refer to the second quarter of 2008 (Q2 2008). Values in this release may not add up due to rounding. OPERATING AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Top line performance: Top line grew 8.8% driven by volume growth and price increases across our regions. Organic volume growth of 4.1% was a result of a 7% volume growth in Brazil, partly offset by a 3.5% volume decline in Latin America South. Canada and Hila-Ex volumes grew 2.3% and 1.1%, respectively, in the period. Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Selling, General & Administrative (SG&A) expenses: COGS per hectoliter decreased by 4.3% in the quarter as expected gains on our hedges, lower commodity prices for PET and corn and productivity initiatives more than offset inflation in the period. SG&A (excl. depreciation & amortization) increased organically by 13.5% driven by higher volumes, inflation, timing of certain investments and higher accruals for variable compensation in the period. EBITDA, Operating Cash Flow and Net income: Our Normalized EBITDA reached R$2,383.1 million in Q2 2009, an organic growth of +13.8 % and margin expansion of 230 bps in the second quarter to 44.6%. Operating cash flow generation was R$1,991.1 million in Q2 2009, an increase of +31.4% yoy. Our Normalized Net income was R$1,391.4. million (+35.1%) in Q2 2009 while our Normalized Earnings per share (EPS) grew 34.6% yoy. Payout and Financial Discipline: In Q2 2009, we paid interest on own capital (IOC) totaling around R$262 million. Since then, we paid dividends and IOC of approximately R$745 million beginning July 31 and declared additional dividends and IOC of approximately R$ 1.0 billion, to be paid beginning October 2, 2009. There were no share buybacks in the quarter. Financial Highlights - AmBev Consolidated % As % R$million 2Q08 2Q09 Reported Organic Total volumes 32,777.1 34,076.5 4.0% 4.1% Beer 23,683.7 24,499.0 3.4% 4.5% CSD and NANC 9,093.3 9,577.5 5.3% 2.8% Net sales 4,713.4 5,348.1 13.5% 8.8% Gross profit 3,063.9 3,623.7 18.3% 13.6% Gross margin 65.0% 67.8% 280 bps 310 bps EBITDA 2,008.7 2,367.3 17.9% 13.3% EBITDA margin 42.6% 44.3% 160 bps 220 bps Normalized EBITDA 2,012.5 2,383.1 18.4% 13.8% Normalized EBITDA margin 42.7% 44.6% 190 bps 230 bps Net Income - AmBev holders 1,026.0 1,375.6 34.1% Normalized Net Income - AmBev holders 1,029.8 1,391.4 35.1% No. of share outstanding (millions) 613.7 616.0 EPS (R$/shares) 1.67 2.23 33.6% Normalized EPS 1.68 2.26 34.6% Financial Highlights - AmBev Consolidated % As % R$million YTD 08 YTD 09 Reported Organic Total volumes 68,561.9 71,344.7 4.1% 4.6% Beer 49,241.5 50,813.8 3.2% 4.3% CSD and NANC 19,320.4 20,530.8 6.3% 5.2% Net sales 9,546.8 11,003.8 15.3% 9.7% Gross profit 6,228.1 7,382.3 18.5% 13.2% Gross margin 65.2% 67.1% 190 bps 220 bps EBITDA 4,111.5 5,167.7 25.7% 20.3% EBITDA margin 43.1% 47.0% 390 bps 440 bps Normalized EBITDA 4,119.9 4,966.0 20.5% 15.1% Normalized EBITDA margin 43.2% 45.1% 200 bps 240 bps Net Income - AmBev holders 2,254.6 2,964.2 31.5% Normalized Net Income - AmBev holders 2,263.0 2,762.6 22.1% No. of share outstanding (millions) 613.7 616.0 EPS (R$/shares) 3.67 4.81 31.0% Normalized EPS 3.69 4.48 21.6% Note: Earnings per share calculation is based on outstanding shares (total existing shares excluding shares held in treasury). DATASOURCE: AmBev CONTACT: Myriam Bado - Investor Relations, + 55-11-2122-1414,

Copyright