Anheuser-Busch InBev, which incorporates South African Breweries, has published its second quarter and half-year 2020 results, showing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on its business, across the world.<\/p>\n
InBev – the seller of Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois; Hoegaarden; Castle, and Castle Lite – said that its performance in the second quarter was materially impacted by the pandemic, as expected. “As the quarter progressed, however, we saw considerable improvement,” it said.<\/p>\n
April volumes declined by 32.4%, May volumes declined by 21.4% and June volumes grew by 0.7%, demonstrating the resilience of the global beer category.<\/p>\n
In South Africa business was significantly impacted by the nationwide lockdown that began in late March 2020 and lasted until the end of May 2020, which included a complete ban on the sale of alcohol beverages. “Our brewery and distribution operations were severely restricted by government mandates,” it said.<\/p>\n
Volumes in South Africa declined by double-digits<\/strong> in the six-month period ended June 2020 compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n “We fully resumed operations at the beginning of June 2020, and we saw a strong recovery in the month with volume growth of high single digits,” the beer maker said. However, a second ban on the sale of alcohol beverages was implemented in the middle of July 2020, which it said, will impact results in the third quarter of 2020.<\/p>\n
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