World: AB InBev CEO believes in increased sales volume of low- and no-alcohol portfolio by 2025
AB InBev CEO Carlos Brito believes 20% of the companys sales volumes will come from its low- or no-alcohol portfolio by 2025.
In a conference call following the release of AB InBevs full-year results, Brito shed light on the companys strategy to expand sales and appeal to consumers who want to limit their alcohol intake, FoodBev.com reported on March 2.
He said that now around 8% of the companys volumes came from its low- or no-alcoholic lines. We want to get to 20% by 2025. So were not starting from zero, quite the opposite. The big thing that will accelerate this, in my view, is two things.
First, the category expansion model because its showing us there are opportunities in adjacencies, easy drinking and flavored liquids, that we can explore.
And the second one is that now we already have five of our main countries in which NABLAB, or non-alcohol beer and low-alcohol beer, represents more than 20% and in some even 30%.
Brito drew attention to the higher margins of the NABLAB sector. I think this is going to be a big motivation for our people because theyre going to be inspired.
There is a toolkit to be shared with other countries. Again, so were not starting from zero, the margins are very interesting, and category expansion shows the way on how to use some of those products to enter new categories or new occasions.
AB InBevs range of low- and no-alcohol beers includes Becks Blue, Bud Light and Corona Cero. Last year, the company launched an alcohol-free Budweiser Prohibition beer in the UK.
Speaking of the launch, a spokesperson said: Budweiser Prohibition is for those who love beer, who will never sacrifice on quality or taste and want to enjoy freely. After all, beer isnt about alcohol; its about using the best, natural ingredients and brewing with passion.
An AB InBev study released in 2016 found that one third of UK consumers had tried alcohol-free beer with almost as many unable to tell the difference between regular alcoholic varieties.
In its full-year results, the company saw its net sales rise 5.1% year-on-year to $56.4 billion and operating profits increase 13.4% to $22.1 billion as it benefited from the integration of SABMiller.
E-malt.com, la fuente de información global para los profesionales de la industria cervecera y de malteado. Los boletines quincenales de E-malt.com incluyen las últimas noticias de la industria, estadísticas en gráficos y tablas, precios mundiales de cebada y malta, y otra información relevante. Haga clic aquí para obtener acceso completo a E-malt.com. Si usted es un cliente de Castle Malting, puede obtener acceso gratuito al sitio web y publicaciones de E-malt.com. Contáctenos para obtener más información en marketing@castlemalting.com.