Brazil's Ambev Q2 net profit falls 15%, misses estimates (updated)

Ambev SA

03/08/2023 08:09

(Adds earnings detail, CEO comment)
       Aug 3 (Reuters) - Brazilian brewer Ambev  ABEV3.SA  on
Thursday reported a 15.2% decline in second-quarter net profit,
missing market forecasts.
    The subsidiary of Belgium's Anheuser-Busch InBev  ABI.BR 
posted profit of 2.60 billion reais ($540.34 million), versus
the 2.68 billion reais average estimate of analysts polled by
Refinitiv. 
    Revenue rose 20% from the same period a year earlier to 18.9
billion reais, missing the 19.80 billion reais consensus view.
    Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization
(EBITDA) grew in all business units, though sales volume
declined 2.2%.
    "Our top-line performance remained resilient and cost
pressures continued to decelerate leading to bottom-line
growth," CEO Jean Jereissati said in a statement.
    Ambev said commercial momentum continued to be led by the
Brazilian market. Still, Brazil beer volume fell 2.5%, in part
due to comparison with the year earlier's strong post-pandemic
recovery.
    Ambev is Brazil's fourth-largest company by market
capitalization, behind oil giant Petrobras  PETR4.SA , miner
Vale  VALE3.SA  and lender Itau  ITUB4.SA .
    
    ($1 = 4.8118 reais)

 (Reporting by Natalia Siniawski; Editing by Jane Merriman and
Christopher Cushing)
 ((natalia.siniawski@thomsonreuters.com;))