Anheuser Busch Profit Rises

By Matthew Dalton 

BRUSSELS--Anheuser Busch InBev on Thursday reported its net profit inched up in the fourth quarter, as economic recovery in the U.S. helped offset the impact of a stronger dollar that hurt sales elsewhere in the company's global beer empire.

The results show that falling unemployment in the U.S., combined with the company's efforts to sell more "premium" beers, is helping turn around AB InBev's performance in its largest market. But sales of Budweiser continued their long-term decline in the U.S. as the company is still struggling to attract younger drinkers to the brand.

"It isn't an easy challenge," Chief Financial Officer Felipe Dutra told reporters on Thursday. "We don't expect to stabilize Budweiser in the U.S. in the short term."

The world's largest brewer said net profit for the quarter was $2.53 billion, up from $2.52 billion a year ago. Revenue for the quarter was $12 billion, slightly topping analyst expectations of $11.86 billion.

AB InBev said sales volumes in the U.S. rose 0.2% in the quarter compared with a year ago, reversing a trend of falling volumes in the U.S. That helped soften the impact of the stronger dollar, which cost the company $848 million for the quarter in lost revenue and $2.3 billion for all of last year.

"We have operations in markets like Brazil where the stronger dollar puts pressure on transactional costs," Mr. Dutra said.

Nevertheless, revenue in Brazil rose slightly, despite weakness of the Brazilian real against the dollar. This was mainly because of the company's efforts to sell more premium beers, a company priority, Mr. Dutra said.

Those efforts also helped boost sales during the quarter in China, where sales of Budweiser, which sells at a premium overseas, were strong despite weakness in the Chinese economy.

Write to Matthew Dalton at [e-mail]

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