Bud Light Brewer AB InBev Says Alternative Drinks Help Steady Slide in Beer Volumes — 2nd Update

By Joshua Kirby

Anheuser-Busch InBev said a move toward other drinks helped offset a drop in global beer volumes in the third quarter, as the world's largest brewer looks to ways to adapt to changing drinking habits that have hit sales in the booze business.

The Budweiser maker said Thursday that volumes of beer it sold in the three months through September fell 0.1% organically on year, but a 4% rise in nonbeer volumes helped lift total volumes into the black.

Revenue, meanwhile, increased 4.9% on year to $16.51 billion. The top line was boosted by a focus on the more premium end of the group's portfolio, including its nonbeer lines, AB InBev said.

The group's "beyond beer" portfolio includes ready-to-drink cocktail lines like Cutwater, as well as flavored malt drinks. The Brussels-listed group is also seeing growth in its low- and no-alcohol beers, in line with peers like Dutch brewer Heineken.

The downturn in overall beer volumes reverses a rebound booked over the first half of the year, including a 1.1% rise in volumes in the second quarter, lifted by sunny summer weather and soccer's World Cup. In the most recent quarter, volumes of beer sold by the group were lower in North America and Asia Pacific, but grew in other markets.

A challenging industry in China hit sales and earnings there, tallying with comments by peers, AB InBev said. Denmark's Carlsberg said Thursday that its own beer volumes slid over the most recent quarter, hit by a tough Chinese market, as well as weakness in Western Europe, but that soft-drinks sales saw rapid growth.

The good parts of AB InBev's business are continuing to do well while the bad parts are still struggling, analyst James Edwardes Jones at RBC Capital Markets wrote in a note following the update. Sliding beer volumes, while offset by growth elsewhere, are "not ideal, in our view," he said.

Third-quarter growth "reflects the strength of our diversified footprint," AB InBev's Chief Executive Officer Michel Doukeris said, as well as a strategy of focusing investment on the group's biggest brands like Corona, Stella Artois and Michelob Ultra. Those labels booked growth of 20%, 19% and 50%, respectively, outside their home markets over the quarter, the company said.

That has helped AB InBev halt a slide in performance that lasted several years, as price inflation damped drinkers' spending while Bud Light lost market share amid a boycott that followed a marketing push featuring a transgender influencer.

The company backed its outlook for the year, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization expected to grow between 4% and 8% compared with a year earlier, in line with midterm targets. Over the third quarter, adjusted Ebitda rose 3.9% to $5.96 billion, in line with expectations.

Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2026 04:03 ET (08:03 GMT)