Aug 14 - InBev, the world's leading brewer, announced today its results for the second quarter (2Q08) and half year (HY08) of 2008. Except where otherwise stated, analyses are based on organic figures:
Volume performance: total volumes grew 0.7% in 2Q08, while our own beer volumes increased at the slightly higher rate of 0.9%. The majority of our Zones delivered a better year on year (yoy) performance in 2Q08 versus the first quarter, and, as expected, Brazil resumed volume growth (+3.8%) after a slow start to the year. For HY08, total volumes as well as own beer volumes were 0.2% higher than HY07.
Market share gains: The underlying strength of our brand portfolio, coupled with continued strong investments behind the brands, led to market share being maintained or increased in 8 of our top 10 markets, including our three key Western European markets.
Revenue growth: consolidated revenue increased by 4.5% in 2Q08, and revenue per Hl was up by 3.7% as a result of a continuous improvement in the sales mix and selected price increases. HY08 revenue was 4.6% higher than a year ago, driven by a 4.4% rise in revenue per Hl.
Cost of Sales growth: consolidated cost of sales (CoS) per Hl showed a 6.5% increase in 2Q08, due to increased commodity input costs yoy. Although we experienced a strong increase in CoS per Hl in HY08 (1Q08: +9.9%; 2Q08:+6.5%; HY08:+8.0%), as indicated in our 1Q08 disclosure, CoS per Hl growth is expected to decelerate during 2H08, especially in the fourth quarter.
Disciplined expense control: 2Q08 operating expenses increased modestly (1.9% higher), with sales and marketing expenses up 6.9% as we continued to invest in our brands and further strengthen our sales execution programs. However, administrative expenses declined 11.3% yoy, as our strong cost discipline continues to reduce non-working expenses.
EBITDA growth and margin expansion: normalized EBITDA grew by 4.7% in 2Q08, and EBITDA margin for the quarter was 33.4%, an organic increase of 7 basis points. For HY08, normalized EBITDA is up 2.9%, resulting in an EBITDA margin of 32.2% which is 54 basis lower, yoy
Earnings Per Share growth: Normalized EPS was 0.92 euro in 2Q08 versus 0.78 euro during the same quarter of last year, and HY08 normalized EPS was 1.36 euro compared to 1.24 euro in HY07. Adjusted for the positive impact of a deferred tax asset recognition in 2Q08, normalized EPS would have been 0.78 euro and 1.22 euro for 2Q08 and HY08, respectively.
Returning cash to shareholders: InBev returned a total of 2 024 million euro to shareholders during the second quarter, reflecting the inherently strong and improving cash generation capability of our business. This is a result of paying out 1 602 million euro in dividends (of which InBev shareholders 1 428 million euro, and AmBev minority shareholders 159 million euro) and acquiring 385 million euro of InBev shares and 37 million euro of AmBev shares through share buyback programs. Year to date, InBev has returned 2 542 million euro to shareholders.