Stella Artois and Budweiser brewer AB-InBev saw like-for-like beer volumes in the UK fall 16% in Q2 2011 due to “tough” comparatives with the 2010 football World Cup.
The UK was the only country in Western Europe where AB-InBev failed to increase or maintain market share.
The company said: “In the United Kingdom, own beer volumes, excluding cider, declined 16% in 2Q11 against a tough comparable of 18.6% growth in 2Q10 driven by the FIFA World Cup.
“In HY11, own beer volumes excluding cider decreased 10.4% versus a comparable of 11.4% growth in HY10.”
The company also revealed that Stella Artois Cidre has established a 16% share of the off-trade premium cider market in the first 12 weeks since its launch in April. No figures are available for its impact in the on-trade, where it was launched in May.
Across Western Europe, own beer volumes fell 1.6% in Q2, with total volumes down 4.3% following the termination in the UK of contracts to distribute brands on behalf of other producers. Such contracts now represent 5% of total Western Europe volumes in the second quarter, down from 9% in Q2 2010.
Own beer volumes in Western Europe grew 0.1% in HY 2010, with total volumes for the region down 2.3%.
EBITDA in the region increased 1.7% to $387m in Q2 2011, with margin improvement of 278 bp to 33.3%. “This improvement was due principally to an improved product mix and the termination of legacy commercial products contracts mentioned previously,” Ab-InBev said. HY11 EBITDA grew 3.8% to $588m.
Internationally, normalised profit grew 11.3% to $1,603m in the second quarter. Across the half year, profits increased 18.3% to $2,758m in HY 2010.
Revenue increased 3.7% in Q2 2011 and 4.6% in HY 2011. Total volumes in Q2 2011 grew 0.3%, with own beer volumes up 0.6% and non-beer volumes up 1.1%.
Costs of sales increased 1.9% in the second quarter and 2.6% in HY 2011.
