- Three-month sales up 6% to US$2.51bn
- US beer sales climb 11% in quarter to end of May
- Combined wine & spirits top line dips by 6%
Constellation Brands has started its current financial year better than it finished fiscal 2023, posting a mid-single-digit rise in three-month sales.
Almost three months after reporting a 5% dip in sales in the closing quarter of the previous financial year, the group said late last week that its top line in the three months to the end of May increased by 6%. Leading the way – yet again – was the group’s beer business in the US, although both the wine and spirits operations delivered year-on-year declines.
The +11% showing for the brewing division was credited to the usual suspects of Corona Extra and Modelo Especial, while the Modelo Oro extension, positioned as a "high-end light beer" at launch in May, benefitted from a "successful" roll-out towards the end of the quarter. The combined wine and spirits operations, however, are expected to remain in the shadows in the coming months: The -6% sales showing in Q1 is expected to improve, although the pair are forecast to come in between -0.5% and +0.5% for the entirety of fiscal 2024.
Digger deeper, wine brands Meiomi and Kim Crawford saw volumes either dip [-5%] or stay flat, respectively, although in a subsequent presentation, Constellation said its wine and spirits business "outperforms [the] higher-end segment of [the] wine category in US tracked channels".
"Our beer business delivered double-digit net sales growth and continued to outperform the market as the top share gainer," said CEO Bill Newlands. "Meanwhile, our higher-end wine & spirits business ... gained share [at the higher-end of US wine]."
Constellation's M&A activity in recent months has seen two in and one out: Alcohol-free 'wine' brand Töst benefitted from a minority stake purchase in May, with last month's acquisition of Domaine Curry in California sandwiching the divestment of Funky Buddha Brewery in Florida.
Constellation Brands' official Q1 & fiscal 2024 results announcement.
Group presentation on recent performance.
How the wine category is finally muscling in on no- & low-alcohol – Category Intel
