Molson Coors Beverage Co. reports net sales rose 16.7% (17.6% constant currency) to $2.64 billion in the first quarter. Net profit nearly doubled — to $151.5 million, or 70 cents a share, from $84.1 million, or 39 cents a share.
“Many of our core brands continued to outperform their peers, we again earned the largest growth in U.S. hard seltzers among major brewers and our expansion beyond beer continued to track ahead of our $1 billion revenue target,” CEO GavinHattersley said. “All were factors in delivering not just a successful quarter, but the most quarterly top-line growth this company has had in more than 10 years.”
In the U.S., both Coors Light and Miller Lite grew revenue for the quarter, generating their best combined industry share performance in five years.
In Canada, Coors Light grew share of the beer category.
And in the company’s European and Asia-Pacific business unit, revenue nearly doubled from 2021 and exceeded first-quarter 2019 levels. Sales were led by its portfolio of “national champion” brands, which booked significant improvement with the reopening of pubs in the U.K., where beer sales returned to 98% of pre-pandemic levels.
Above-premium brands take flight
Fueled in large part by the national launch in the U.S. of Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, the fastest-growing major hard seltzer brand in America, per IRI, Molson Coors has grown its share of net sales revenue in the above-premium segment for five straight quarters. These higher-priced brands now represent more than 26% of trailing-12-month net sales revenue across the company’s global portfolio.
Blue Moon and Peroni posted double-digit net sales revenue growthin the U.S. in the first quarter, benefitting from the on-premise recovery, as well as strong results at retail.
Hattersley said the company is “well on track” to achieve $1 billion in revenue in its emerging growth division by the end of 2023, driven in part by the ascendance of the energy drink ZOA.
The Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson-backed energy drink brand booked record sales in March and continues to climb the list of top-selling energy drink brands in the U.S.
La Colombe, meanwhile, finished the quarter up 17% in dollar share, outpacing the overall ready-to-drink tea and coffee category, which was up 1%, per IRI.
Finally, Five Trail whiskey, Molson Coors’ first full-strength bottled spirit, expanded into two additional U.S. markets after a strong performance in its initial four markets.
The company’s shift into more higher-priced, higher-margin products also is paying off – and that’s even if high inflation exerts more pressure on consumers throughout the year. “In our biggest global markets, consumers continue to trade up, not down. While it may seem counterintuitive, this trend is consistent with consumer behavior in the recent economic downturns,” Hattersley said.
But should consumers seek to trade down into less-expensive products, he said, the company’s refocused economy portfolio is “well-positioned to capitalize.”
“These are dynamic and uncertain times, but what’s clear is that we have built our business to manage through challenging times,” said CFO Tracey Joubert. “Our demonstrated operational agility through the pandemic, our dramatic improvements to our financial flexibility, our successful cost savings program that has served to fuel targeted investments to support our core brands and key innovations – have all further strengthened our business as we continue to drive toward our goal of sustainable long-term top and bottom-line growth.”