...Tougher Trading Environment Constrains Credit Profiles The latest results reported by the four leading global brewers Anheuser-Busch Inbev, SABMiller, Carlsberg and Heineken reflect weak consumer spending in western Europe, the inroads craft beer is making in the US, and weaker emerging markets. In several key emerging markets currency depreciation has led to weaker consumer spending and to adverse translational and transactional effects. Countries hit include Brazil ¡ particularly important for ABI (35% of FY14 profit) ¡ and Russia ¡ particularly important for Carlsberg (25%). The only bright spots in terms of growth remain Asia and Africa. What to Watch Poor Performance: Volume performance in 1H15 has deteriorated for all four European- based players after already weak performance over 2012-2014. Companies raised prices, but this was not always sufficient to compensate currency weakness and volume declines. This dragged down reported profit growth. We however expect some benefits in 2H15...
