View of the Anheuser-Busch InBev logo outside the brewer's headquarters in Leuven, Belgium March 1, 2018. Picture: REUTERS/Francois LenoirThe company said on Thursday that sales growth improved in the final quarter of its financial year and forecast a further escalation in 2019. The world’s biggest brewer said it expected strong expansion in both revenue and ebitda.
There was strength in some other key locations, including Mexico and China, offsetting weakness in Brazil and SA.First, the company is still lumbering under a substantial pile of borrowings from its 2016 acquisition of SABMiller.And the dividend cut announced in October will help – the company said it expected net debt to ebitda to fall to below 4 times by the end of 2020, compared with 4.6 times at the end of 2018.
And there’s a further worry, thanks to Kraft Heinz. Its recent ugly earnings report and write-down of some of its biggest brands is a stark warning for companies that have expanded aggressively through acquisitions. This presents a risk if demand wavers for any of its big brands as they battle niche and local rivals.Instead of margin expansion, investors now want to see a better balance between the top line and bottom line.