Anheuser-Busch Cos., the nation’s largest brewer, notched higher first-quarter sales and earnings as its high-end import brands and international operations drove growth. But the company’s core domestic brands struggled to hang onto sales and market share, and earnings missed analysts’ consensus expectations.
Results were disappointing because beer shipments in the U.S. grew half a percentage point, and would have fallen 0.7 % by volume if not for the infusion of new brands such as Stella Artois and Bass Pale Ale. A-B started importing those beers and 17 other European brews from Belgian brewer InBev on Feb. 1.
[Via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch]