Anheuser-Busch InBev announced today that they missed second quarter projections as costs increased above expectations. Second quarter core profit (EBITDA) was up 31% versus company projections of 35%. Shares fell by about 6% by end of trading today.
Beer volumes grew by 20.5%, while non-beer volumes grew by 23.2% In the U.S., top-line growth was 6.8%.
The pandemic has led to a surge in demand for cans, pushing up their price. “We had to import a lot of cans from several different markets, cans from Mexico, cans from China, cans from Europe and India in order to serve the high demand,” chief executive Michel Doukeris told Reuters in a telephone interview, referring to the U.S. market.
Summary of the results here and a transcript of the earnings call here.