ABInBev has reported its results for the fourth quarter and full year 2013, with Inge Plochaet, BU President, AB InBev UK commenting:
“We are pleased with the performance of AB InBev UK’s beer and cider brands in 2013 in a challenging market. Budweiser in particular performed well, with volumes up 3%. This was driven by growth in off trade retail and draught distribution in the on trade. With Budweiser as the official beer sponsor of the FIFA World Cup 2014™, we’re looking forward to another exciting year.”
Highlights
- Revenue growth: Revenue grew 3.3% in FY13 and 4.6% in 4Q13, with revenue per hl growth of 5.8% in FY13 and 8.4% in 4Q13 on a constant geographic basis, resulting from favorable brand mix and revenue management best practices
- Volume performance: Total and own beer volumes declined 2.0% in FY13, while non-beer volumes decreased 2.2%. In 4Q13, total volumes declined 1.7%, with own beer volumes down 2.0% and non-beer volumes flat
- Focus Brands: Focus Brands volumes declined by 0.9% in FY13, driven by challenging macro-economic conditions in a number of markets. Global brands grew 4.7% in FY13, led by growth in Budweiser and Corona of 6.4% and 3.9%, respectively. In 4Q13, Focus Brands declined by 2.1%, with growth in global brands of 2.9%
- Cost of Sales (CoS): CoS increased 0.9% in FY13 and decreased by 0.3% in 4Q13. CoS per hl increased 4.3% in FY13 and 1.9% in 4Q13 on a constant geographic basis
- EBITDA: EBITDA grew 8.1% in FY13 to 17 188 million USD, with a margin of 39.8%, an increase of 179 bps. In 4Q13, EBITDA grew 13.1% to 5 199 million USD with margin expansion of 336 bps, and includes a 143 million USD one time gain, recorded in other operating income, related to the recovery of restricted funds in Brazil
- Net finance costs: Net finance costs (excl. non-recurring net finance costs) in FY13 were 2 486 million USD, and 669 million USD in 4Q13
- Income taxes: Income tax in FY13 was 2 016 million USD with a normalized effective tax rate of 16.6%, compared to an income tax expense of 1 680 million USD in FY12 with a normalized effective tax rate of 16.1%
- Profit: Normalized profit attributable to equity holders of AB InBev grew 10.2% in nominal terms to 7 936 million USD in FY13 from 7 201 million USD in FY12. Normalized profit in 4Q13 increased by 34% in nominal terms to 2 374 million USD in 4Q13 from 1 772 million USD in 4Q12
- Earnings per share: Normalized earnings per share (EPS) grew by 9.1% to 4.91 USD in FY13 from 4.50 USD in FY12, and increased by 32.7% to 1.46 USD in 4Q13 from 1.10 USD in 4Q12
- Cash flow: Cash flow from operating activities increased to 13 864 million USD in FY13 from 13 268 million USD in FY12, despite significant foreign exchange headwinds
- Net debt: net debt as of 31 December 2013 was 38.8 billion USD, an increase of
8.7 billion USD from 31 December 2012, mainly due to the combination with Grupo Modelo. The net debt to normalized EBITDA ratio increased from 1.94x at the end of 2012 to 2.26x on a reported basis as of 31 December 2013, or 2.16x when including 12 months of Grupo Modelo EBITDA
- Dividend: The AB InBev Board proposes a final dividend of 1.45 EUR per share, subject to shareholder approval at the AGM on 30 April 2014, bringing the total dividend for the fiscal year 2013 to 2.05 EUR per share, an increase of 21% over fiscal year 2012. If approved, the shares will trade ex-coupon as of 5 May 2014 and dividends will be payable as from 8 May 2014. The record date will be 7 May 2014
- 2013 Full Year Financial Report is available at www.ab-inbev.com