Management comments
Creating a future with more cheers
Our business delivered
another year of consistent profitable growth, with an EBITDA increase of 7.0%, in-line with our medium-term growth ambition and outlook for the year. While our full growth potential was constrained by the
performance of our US business, we remained true to our purpose and laser focused on the execution of our strategy.
We made disciplined revenue
management and resource allocation choices, delivering broad-based growth with top- and bottom-line increases in four of our five operating regions. Our results are a testament to the strength of the beer
category, resilience of our business and people, consistent execution of our replicable growth drivers and our unwavering commitment to invest for long-term growth and value creation.
As with any year, there was success to celebrate and challenges from which to learn. We are taking the learnings and moving forward in a stronger position
to realize our full growth potential.
Delivering consistent profitable growth
Our top-line increased by 7.8% in FY23, with revenue growth in more than 85% of our markets, driven by a revenue
per hl increase of 9.9% as a result of pricing actions, ongoing premiumization and other revenue management initiatives. Volumes declined by 1.7% as growth in many of our emerging and developing markets was primarily offset by performance in the US
and a soft industry in Europe.
EBITDA increased by 7.0%, with our top-line growth partially offset by
anticipated transactional FX and commodity cost headwinds and increased sales and marketing investments. Underlying EPS was 3.05 USD, an increase of 0.02 USD per share versus FY22.
Progressing our strategic priorities
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Lead and grow the category |
We remain focused on the consistent execution of our five proven and replicable category expansion levers. In FY23, the beer and beyond
beer category continued to gain share of alcohol by volume globally, led by gains in South America and China, according to Euromonitor.
We focused our investments behind the megabrands in our portfolio that are driving the majority of our growth and the global mega
platforms that consumers love and that bring people together. Our portfolio of brands is unparalleled, with 7 out of the top 10 most valuable beer brands in the world, according to Kantar BrandZ, and 20 iconic billion-dollar revenue beer brands. The
combination of our iconic brands with mega platforms such as the Olympics, FIFA World CupTM, Copa America, NFL, UFC, NBA, Lollapalooza and Tomorrowland has us uniquely positioned to lead and grow
the category.
The relevance, authenticity and effective creativity of our marketing work continues to be recognized. At the 2023
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, campaigns and brands from all 5 of our operating regions were awarded and we were honored to be named as the Creative Marketer of the Year for the second year in a row.
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Category Participation: In FY23, the percentage of consumers purchasing our portfolio of brands
increased or remained stable in the majority of our markets, according to our estimates. Our brand, pack and liquid innovations drove increased participation with female consumers across key markets in Africa, Latin America and Europe, and new legal
drinking age consumers in the US and Canada. |
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Core Superiority: Our mainstream portfolio delivered high-single digit revenue growth in FY23 with
double-digit growth in markets such as South Africa, Colombia and Dominican Republic. Our mainstream brands gained or maintained share of segment in the majority of our key markets, according to our estimates. |
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Occasions Development: Our global no-alcohol beer portfolio
continued to outperform, delivering high-teens revenue growth in FY23, with our performance driven by Budweiser Zero and Corona Cero. Our digital direct-to-consumer
products enabled us to develop deep consumer insights and new consumption occasions, such as Corona Sunset Hours, Brahma Soccer Wednesdays and increased in-home consumption of returnable glass bottle packs.
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Press release 29 February 2024 2 |