- Sales from three months to end of March come in flat – +0.1% – at US$2.35bn
- Quarterly volumes decline 3.1%
Molson Coors Beverage Co has hit flat sales in its latest quarter, finally book-ending the top-line declines of the last seven.
The group, which last posted a quarterly rise in sales in the first three months of 2024, said today that its top line delivered the smallest of possible lifts at +0.1% on the corresponding quarter last year. While the performance was behind that of rival brewers Carlsberg (+3.6%) and Heineken (+2.8%), CEO Rahul Goyal hailed a “solid start” to the current year.
Both of the multi-category group’s reporting regions came in down in volume terms, each by around 3%. The ‘Americas’ region dipped by 3% exactly as sales by value increased by 0.4%, while ‘EMEA & APAC’ declined by 3.4% on -1.2% value sales. In the former, Molson Coors noted “lower share performance in our core and value brands” in the US, with Canada impacted by “industry softness”.
The smaller – value-wise – region of EMEA & APAC experienced what the company called “lower volume in the UK driven by soft market demand and [a] heightened competitive landscape, partly offset by [a] favourable sales mix from premiumisation” elsewhere in the region.
“We delivered a solid start to the year while executing our strategy in a dynamic external environment with limited near-term visibility,” said Goyal. “As we head into summer, we recognise the external environment remains fluid and plan to approach the season’s most important occasions with scale and impact across our global portfolio, while continuing to focus on returning Molson Coors to sustained growth.”
Also in today’s results announcement, the brand owner added some colour to last month’s acquisition of Atomic Brands and with it the Monaco RTD brand. The transaction, which according to Goyal “closes a key portfolio gap”, is expected to contribute around 1% to Molson Coors’ total annual sales and is considered a “natural fit within our US route-to-market and convenience-led footprint”.
For the full year, the company has forecast a sales showing of between -1% and +1% on FY 2025.
