AMSTERDAM – Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, the world’s largest beer maker, has reported a 5.5-per cent increase in earnings for the third quarter, as higher selling prices more than made up for volume declines in Europe and Asia.
Net profit at the brewer of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Corona was $2.50 billion, compared with $2.37 billion in the same period a year earlier. Revenues were up 2.3 per cent to $12.2 billion, as volumes fell 2.6 per cent, but the company’s revenue per beer increased by 4.9 per cent.
Though the Leuven, Belgium-based company suffered a 9.5 per cent volume decline in Europe, it won a full percentage point of market share in Brazil, where it now controls 60 per cent of the beer market. It also increased market share in China, by 1.5 percentage points to 16.5 per cent.
