Molson Coors beat expectations for second-quarter sales and profit, driven by strong demand for its premium Coors Light and Miller Lite beers in the European and Asian regions.
Shares of the beer maker rose 2.7% in premarket trading.
Consumer Spend
Molson Coors, just like Corona beer maker Constellation Brands, is seeing that customers are more than willing to spend on their favourite beers since they have started to cut back spending on wine and spirits to save dollars.
The Europe, Middle East, and Africa region along with its Asia-Pacific region saw a 2% increase in volumes during the second quarter while Americas brand volumes fell 7.3% mainly due to lower sales of its premium brands, which became more expensive following attempts to pass on rising costs to customers.
The company's second-quarter net sales fell 0.4% to $3.25 billion (€3.00 billion), compared to analysts' expectations of $3.18 billion (€2.93 billion), according to LSEG estimates.
Molson Coors' underlying profit came in at $1.92 per share (€1.77), beating estimates of $1.68 apiece (€1.55).
The company continues to expect full-year 2024 net sales to rise in the low single-digit percentage range and underlying profit to grow in the mid-single-digit percentage range.
'Confident In Our Strategy'
"We are confident in our strategy, the trajectory of our total business, and in our short and long-term growth objectives," commented Gavin Hattersley, president and chief executive. "We've just delivered another quarter of bottom-line growth and strong cash flow, and the highly cash-generative nature of our business has enabled us to continue investing in our brands and our capabilities to support our progress against our strategic initiatives.
"We are a much different company today than we were four years ago and we are certainly stronger than we were just 16 months ago."
Elsewhere, Tracey Joubert, chief financial officer, highlighted the company’s "strong performance" in the first half of the year and reaffirmed the full-year 2024 guidance, signalling anticipated growth in both revenue and profits for the third consecutive year.
Despite expected challenges in the second half, particularly concerning U.S. shipment timing, the company remains confident in its comprehensive growth strategy, she added.
Additional reporting by ESM
