Beer volumes disappoint at AB InBev

Shares in Anheuser-Busch InBev came under pressure on Thursday, after the brewing giant posted a sharper-than-expected drop in beer volumes.

The Belgian owner of Budweiser and Stella Artois, among others, said total volumes fell 2.4% in the third quarter, dragged down by a 14.2% slide volumes in China.

Analysts had been expecting a far smaller group-wide decline, of 0.4%.

Group revenues rose 2.1% on an organic basis, constrained by a 16.1% slump in revenues in China.

However, despite the weak trading in Asia, the group narrowed its full-year outlook for growth in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, lifting it to between 6% and 8% from a previous forecast for between 4% and 8%. Third-quarter normalised EBITDA rose 7.1% to $5.42bn.

It also launched a $2bn share buyback programme, to be carried out over the next 12 months.

But shares still came under pressure, and by 0845 GMT AB InBev was down 3%.

Michel Doukeris, chief executive, said: "Beer is a passion point for consumers. Consumer demand for our megabrands and the execution of our mega platforms delivered another quarter of top and bottom line growth with margin expansion.

"Our teams and partners continue to execute our strategy and we are confident in our ability to deliver on our raised full-year EBITDA growth outlook."