Boston Beer Co. withdrew if 2021 financial guidance and said it expects to incure hard seltzer-related inventory writeoffs, shortfall fees paid to third party brewers and other costs related to decelerating demand for hard seltzer.
The company said demand for its hard seltzer products “continues to grow at faster than category rates in measured off-premise channels” but noted that “the market for hard seltzer products has continued to experience decelerating growth trends. Industry reports have estimated that the full year 2021 volume for the hard seltzer market retail sales will have over 100 million fewer cases than the volumes estimated in May 2021 and over 30 million fewer cases than the volumes estimated in July 2021. ”
Boston Beer said it “currently expects full year 2021 earnings per diluted share will fall below the previously-reported estimate of between $18.00 and $22.00, excluding the impact of ASU 2016-09.”