- Group sales in three months to end of May rise 6% to US$2.66bn
- US beer business shines brightly, with sales up 8% to $2.27bn in fiscal Q1
- Combined wine and spirits sales decline 7% to $389m due to challenging market conditions
- Full-year outlook maintained at +6%-to+7% for 12-month sales
The multi-category group, which holds the US licences for the Corona and Modelo beer brands, saw its sales from the three months to the end of May climb by 6% on the corresponding period a year ago. The performance is just ahead of the 5% rise recorded in fiscal 2024, to the end of February.
The company’s beer business was up 8% in value sales terms, driven by a 7.6% volumes rise. Constellation, which has a market capitalisation of US$45.62bn, noted high volume growth for the Modelo Especial (+11%) and Pacifico (+21%) brands, as well as for Mondelo’s Chelada extensions (+5%).
In contrast, however, wine and spirits sales were down by a combined 7%, impacted by a 5% slip in volumes due primarily to what the group called challenging market conditions in the US wholesale channel. Of note on the spirits side was the observation that Constellation’s craft spirits portfolio was by double digits value-wise, “outperforming [the] higher-end spirits segment”.
“Our beer business continued to achieve strong volume growth well above that of its category and total beverage alcohol,” commented CEO Bill Newlands. “This outstanding performance … reinforced our significant growth outperformance relative to the entire consumer packaged goods (CPG) sector.
Despite the wine & spirits decrease, Newlands said the combined businesses are “making good progress against the operational and commercial execution initiatives identified in Q4 of fiscal 2024 to support its trajectory toward this year’s guidance.
“All in, we continue to make progress and remain focused on our fiscal 2025 outlook.”
Earlier this year, Constellation acquired Californian winery Sea Smoke for an undisclosed sum. The pinot noir specialist has been added to the group’s Aspira “fine wine and craft spirits” unit.
Constellation Brands’ official Q1 fiscal 2025 results announcement.
