By Michael Susin

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev's first-quarter net profit soared ahead of market expectations as lower costs helped offset a decline in sales volumes.

The world's largest brewer--which houses the Stella Artois and Budweiser brands among its portfolio--on Thursday said net profit for the quarter jumped $2.15 billion from $1.09 billion a year earlier, significantly ahead of market expectations of $1.66 billion, according to consensus estimates compiled by Visible Alpha.

On the company's preferred adjusted basis, stripping out exceptional and other one-off items, net profit rose to $1.61 billion from $1.51 billion. Organic operating profit increased more than 10%, also significantly ahead of analysts' forecasts of 3.1%.

The performance was helped by improved cost of sales and disciplined overhead management as AB InBev continued to expand its margin, it said.

Revenue fell to $13.63 billion from $14.55 billion, but grew 1.5% organically, beating market expectations of 1.2% growth.

Volumes decreased 2.2%, marking the eighth quarterly decline in a row. Analysts had expected a 2.6% fall, according to consensus forecasts provided by the company.

Revenue in the U.S.--AB InBev's largest market--decreased 5.1%, compared with a Visible Alpha consensus of a 2.9% decrease, with the beer category hurt by poor weather and calendar-related factors. Volumes in the region were down 6.1%.

In China, another key market, revenue declined nearly 13% and volumes dropped by 9.2%, underperforming the sector as the industry weakness continues.

South America was the only region to report volume growth, at 1.3% organically, with Brazil delivering slight revenue growth while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. increased nearly 15%.

Looking ahead, AB InBev said it continues to expect 2025 Ebitda to grow in line with its medium-term guidance of between 4% and 8%. Analysts expect Ebitda growth of 6.7% for 2025.

"Our consistent performance and the fundamental strengths of our business reinforce our confidence in our ability to deliver reliable compounding growth," it said.

Write to Michael Susin at michael.susin@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 08, 2025 02:04 ET (06:04 GMT)

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