Constellation Brands reports net sales for Fiscal 2021 were $8.615 billion, up 3% from Fiscal 2020, and net income on a comparable basis was $2.773 billion, or $9.97 a share, up 9%.
Constellation’s Beer Business posted depletion growth of more than 7% as strong performance in off-premise channels more than offset the COVID-19 impact of the 51% reduction in on-premise channels.
Fiscal 2021 marked the 11th consecutive year of volume growth, the company said, due to the continued strength of the Modelo and Corona Brand Families.
Modelo Especial became the No. 3 selling beer in the U.S. beer market and continued to be one of the fastest-growing, major imported beer brands with depletion growth of 12%.
Corona Brand Family growth was fueled by the successful launch of Corona Hard Seltzer and nearly 20%depletion growth of Corona Premier.
Turning to wine and spirits, Constellation said efforts to increase points of distribution for key brands resulted in double-digit distribution gains in off-premise channels for Kim Crawford, Meiomi, The Prisoner Brand Family, and High West. Retained portfolio net sales grew 5% driven by double-digit volume growth for Meiomi, Kim Crawford, and The Prisoner Brand Family, as well as pricing benefits from Woodbridge and Svedka.
Impactful innovation launches drove solid growth contributions which include Meiomi cabernet sauvignon, Kim Crawford Illuminate, and The Prisoner Unshackled, which was the No. 1 high-end new brand in IRI channels for fiscal 2021.
Looking to Fiscal 2022, Constellation said it expects beer net sales to grow 7-9% while wine and spirits net sales will decline 22-24%. This is largely because of the sales of its wine and spirits business to E.& J. Gallo Winery, and the sale of the Paul Maisson Grande Amber Brandy business to Gallo.
The company’s foray into cannabis continued to be a smoke dream: The losses from its investment in Conopy grew to $679 million in Fiscal 2021 from $575.9 million a year earlier.