AB InBev

Welcome to AB InBev's third quarter 2025 earnings conference call and webcast. Hosting the call today from AB InBev are Mr. Michelle DeCarris, Chief Executive Officer, and Mr. Fernando Tenenbaum, Chief Financial Officer. To access the slides accompanying today's call, please visit AB InBev's website at www.ab-inbev.com and click on the Investors tab in the Reports and Results Center page. Today's webcast will be available for on-demand playback later today. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen-only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star 1 on your touchtone phone. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 2. If you should require operator assistance, please press star 0. Some of the information provided during the conference call may contain statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements. These expectations are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. It is possible that AAB embeds actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. For discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could affect AB InBev's future results, see Risk Factors in the company's latest annual report on Form 20F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 12, 2025. AB InBev assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information provided during the conference call and shall not be liable for any action taken in reliance upon such information. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mr. Michel de Caris. Sir, you may begin.

Thank you, and welcome everyone to our third quarter 2025 earnings call. It is a great pleasure to be speaking with you all today. Today, Fernando and I will take you through our operating highlights and provide you with an update on the progress we have made in executing our strategic priorities this quarter. After that, we'll be happy to answer your questions. Let's start with the key highlights. In the third quarter, we continued to navigate a dynamic operating environment with headwinds in China and unseasonable weather in the Americas, particularly in Brazil, constraining our results. After a slow start to the quarter in July and August, we saw improved performance in September. We remained focused on the consistent execution of our strategy and adapted where required. We maintained our disciplined revenue management plan and continued to deliver on our productivity initiatives. Consistent investments in our brands and innovations drove increased portfolio brand power and continued market share gains in key markets. Despite the challenging environment, we delivered another quarter of top and bottom line growth, margin expansion, and U.S. dollar EPS growth. Our growth platforms of premium beer, non-alcohol beer, and beyond beer continue to outperform, and the quarterly GMV of beers marketplace has reached nearly $1 billion. In the US, our portfolio is continuing to build momentum and gain share of the industry, led by Michelob Ultra, which is now the number one brand in the industry by volume year to date. Our solid financial results in the first nine months of the year reinforce our confidence in delivering our outlook for the year. Given our deleveraged progress and strong free cash flow generation, the board has approved a $6 billion share-by-back program to be executed within the next 24 months, as well as an interim dividend of 15 euro cents per share. We also continue to proactively manage our debt portfolio and have announced the redemption of $2 billion of outstanding bonds. In summary, we are confident in the resilience of our strategy and ability to deliver consistent results. We are investing to provide superior value to our consumers, and we are winning in key markets and growth segments. We are taking action where adjustments are required and are excited about the opportunities ahead to drive shareholder value creation through profitable growth and disciplined capital allocation decisions. Turning to our operating performance. While overall volumes were below potential, we grew revenue in 70% of our markets. The combination of our disciplined revenue management choices and portfolio of mega brands that command a premium price drove a revenue per hectolitre increase of 4.8%, resulting in top-line growth of 0.9%. Our productivity initiatives more than offset transactional effects headwinds to drive an EBITDA increase of 3.3%, with margin expansion of 85 bps. The strength of our diversified geographic footprint enables us to navigate the current environment and deliver profitable growth in the long term. Revenue increased in 70% of our markets this quarter, and we delivered bottom line growth in four of our five operating regions. Now I'll take a few minutes to walk you through the operational highlights for the quarter from our key regions, starting with North America. In the US, The momentum of our portfolio continued and we are increasing investments in our brands to fuel growth. In Beyond Beer, our portfolio growth accelerated with a revenue increase in the mid-40s led by Cutwater, which grew revenue in the triple digits. Cutwater is now one of the top 10 largest spirits brands in the U.S. and was the number one share gainer brand in the total spirits industry in August and September. And in beer, our market share momentum was led by Michelob Ultra, the number one volume share gainer in the industry and now the largest brand year-to-date in both on and off-premise channels. Ultra has gained market share in all 50 states this quarter. The brand has 16% share of the industry in its top state. an 8% average share nationally, but has less than 6% share of the industry in 20 states. So there remains a significant opportunity for further expansion and growth. Michelob Ultra Zero was launched early this year and is already the second largest non-alcohol beer brand and the number one fastest growing non-alcohol beer in the industry. Ultra is the superior light beer, made for those who seek an active lifestyle and balanced choices. Now, let's turn to Middle Americas. In Mexico, our revenue continued to grow, driven by disciplined revenue management choices. The industry was, however, impacted by a softer consumer environment and unseasonable weather, which resulted in our volumes declining by low single digits. With improved weather and consumer sentiment, our volumes improved sequentially throughout the quarter, gaining share and returning to growth in August and September. In Colombia, record high volumes drove low-teens top-line and mid-single-digits bottom-line growth, with our portfolio estimated to have gained share of total alcohol beverages. In Brazil, market share gain and disciplined revenue in cost management offset a soft industry to deliver flat EBITDA with margin expansion. Our revenue declined by 1.9%, driven by volume performance, which was negatively impacted by unseasonable weather and a softer consumer environment. When we look at our performance across both South America and Middle Americas, it is clear that the industry has been impacted by a combination of cyclical and one-off factors this quarter. Cyclical factors include inflationary pressures and low consumer sentiment, which have impacted demand not only for beer, but all consumer categories to different degrees. What has perhaps been more acute for beer than other categories has been the unseasonable weather. Latin America accounts for 20% of the global beer volume, which is typically 1.5 to 2 times the weight of other categories in the consumer goods area. And the region is even more relevant for our business. While we are managing through the short-term headwinds, when we look ahead at the outlook for the category, the fundamental drivers are unchanged. And we see clear potential for industry volume growth as conditions normalize, as evidenced by Mexico, where our volumes returned to growth in August and September. In Europe, continued market share gains and premiumization drove flattish volumes and margin recovery. We gained share of the industry in five of our six key markets, with our performance driven by our mega brands and non-alcohol beer. In South Africa, the underlying momentum of our business continued, maintaining share of beer and gaining share of beyond beer. Top line grew by mid-single digits, and EBITDA grew by high single digits with margin expansion. Now, moving to APAC. In China, revenue declined by 15.2%, with our volumes underperforming the industry. While the overall industry has been impacted by a soft consumer environment, which has been even more pronounced in our footprint and key channels, we recognize that we have opportunities to enhance our execution and route to market to better align our results with our capabilities. We are a company of owners who strive for operational excellence. We have been working in China to right-size inventories in line with the channel shifts, allocate resources towards areas of growth, and elevate our execution. We have a clear view of where to improve, and as we move forward, our priority is to reignite growth and rebuild our momentum. To achieve this, we are focused on increasing investments in our mega brands, leading innovation within the industry across packaging and liquids, strengthening our route to market in the in-home channels, with an increased focus on online to offline, continuing our geographic expansion and rebuilding our excellence in execution. We are moving with speed to ensure that our business emerges stronger and investing to be better positioned to outperform in the long term. Now, let's take a look at the key highlights of our three strategic pillars. starting with leading and growing the category. Our mega brands continue to lead our growth, with net revenue increasing by 3%. Corona continue to drive premiumization across our markets, growing revenue by 6.3% outside of Mexico and growing volumes by double digits in 33 markets. Through the consistent execution of our category expansion levers, we aim to increase participation across our markets by offering superior core brands, innovating in balanced choices to provide consumers with no and low alcohol, low carb, zero sugar, and gluten-free options, and expanding our premium and beyond beer portfolios. On a roll in 12 months, participation of legal drinking age consumers within our portfolio was stable. In non-alcohol beer, our portfolio momentum continued, with net revenue growing by 27%, led by the growth of Corona Zero. We are now leaders in eight of our top 14 non-alcohol beer markets and estimate to have gained share in 70% of them. Non-alcohol beer is a key opportunity to develop new consumption occasions and increase participation, and we are investing and innovating to lead the growth. This quarter, we announced the partnership with Netflix, which is the world's most popular streaming service. They are creating content that shapes culture, and watching Netflix has become a new social occasion. Our iconic brands are part of the fabric of society in the markets in which we operate. And it is perfect pairing to bring together beer and entertainment in this unprecedented way. What makes our partnership with Netflix unique is its global reach and scale of activations across our portfolio of brands. Consumers receive this come to life through co-marketing campaigns, activations title integration limited edition packaging and even at live events but what we are most excited about is how this partnership will create more meaningful experiences for consumers across their passion points including comedy music cooking and live sport events The beer and beyond beer category remains vibrant, and we are leading innovation to address emerging consumer needs, providing choice and superior value in different occasions. In balanced choices, we are innovating in liquids to provide consumers with different options to meet different lifestyles. From the rollout of Stella Gluten-Free in Brazil to Harbin Zero Sugar in China to Michelob Ultra Zero in the U.S., and CAS 4.0 in South Korea. We are leading the category in liquid innovation. In Beyond Beer, Catwater continues to expand, growing volumes by triple digits, approaching half a billion dollars in analyzed retail sales, and is now a top 10 spirits brand in the US. And after a successful rollout in Africa, Our flavored beer, Flying Fish, is now expanding to Europe and the Americas. In adjacent beverage categories, we are taking the learnings from developing a number of successful brands in the energy drink space in the US and have launched Form Energy to participate directly in this segment. Let's now turn to our second strategic pillar, digitize and monetize our ecosystem. In the second quarter, this captured $13.3 billion in gross merchandising value, an 11% increase versus last year. The growth of this marketplace accelerated with more than 500 partners on the platform. Quarterly GMV increased by 66% versus last year and now approaching $1 billion. And in D2C, our digital platforms continue to enable a one-to-one connection with our consumers and help us in developing new occasions. Our digital platforms generated $138 million in revenue, serving 11.9 million consumers and generating close to 18 million orders online. With that, I would like to hand it over to Fernando to discuss the third pillar of our strategy. optimize our business. Thank you, Michel.

Good morning, good afternoon, everyone.

I will take a few minutes to discuss the progress we have made in optimizing our business. Our EBITDA margins improved by 85 basis points this quarter, with expansion in four of our five operating regions. We know that each quarter will be different. but we are confident that the combination of our leadership advantages, disciplined revenue management, continued premiumization, and efficient operating model create an opportunity for further margin expansion over time. Moving on to EPS. We deliver underlying EPS of $0.99 per share a 1% increase in U.S. dollars and a 0.3% increase in constant currency versus last year. EBITDA growth accounted for a $0.09 per share increase, partially offset by higher other financial results, which increased due to a higher cost of FX movements and cost of hedging. The objective of our capital allocation framework is to maximize value creation for our shareholders. Given the progress we have made on our deleveraging and our solid year-to-date financial results, we have increased flexibility on our capital allocation choices. We remain confident in the long-term growth and value of our business and have announced today a new $6 billion share buyback program to be executed within the next 24 months. In addition, we have announced an interim dividend of 15 euro cents per share, our first interim dividend since 2019. We also continue to proactively manage our debt portfolio and have announced a bond redemption of $2 billion. Our bond portfolio remain well distributed with no relevant near and medium term refinancing needs. Upon completion of the bond redemption announced today, we will have no bonds maturing through 2026 and we have no financial problems. Our results in the first nine months of the year, the resilience of our strategy, and the strength of our mega-brands all reinforce our confidence in our ability to deliver on our 2025 outlook of 48% EBITDA growth. With that, I would like to hand it back to Michel for some final comments.

Thanks, Fernando. Before opening for Q&A, I would like to take a moment to recap on our performance year-to-date. We are encouraged by our results for the first nine months of the year. as we deliver the beta growth at the midpoint of our outlook range. Underlying PS increased by mid-single digits in US dollar and by 12% in constant occurrence. While our volume performance has been below potential due to a combination of cyclical and short-term factors, we remain confident in the long-term fundamentals of our business. With a strong free cash flow generation, we have increased capital location flexibility, and announced a $6 billion share-by-back program, an interim dividend of 15 euro cents, and a bond redemption of $2 billion. And as Fernando just mentioned, our performance here today and the strategic choices we have made position us well to deliver on our outlook for the year. Our brands have met consumers in some of the most iconic events in sports and culture this year. creating moments of celebration and cheers. But as we look to 2026, that is an incredible opportunity to activate the beer category, because next year, on top of our powerful lineup of mega platforms, we have the FIFA World Cup in North America. This iconic event encompasses 104 games across three countries, and each game is an opportunity to bring beer and sports together and create unforgettable moments for our consumers. With that, I'll hand it back to the operator for the Q&A.

Thank you.

The floor is now open for questions. In the interest of time, we will limit participants to one question and one follow-up question. Again, if you have a question or comment, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing star 2. We do ask that while you pose your question, you pick up your handset and provide optimal sound quality. Our first questions come from the line of Edward Mundy with Jefferies. Please proceed with your questions.

Morning, Michelle. Morning, Fernando. So two questions for me, please. The first is around the board thinking around the shift to a two-year buyback program of $6 billion, given the balance sheet repair. Is it to signal clearer capital allocation priorities from here, or is there also a practical reason insofar as it gives you a little bit more flexibility in the pace of buybacks, given that historically you've tended to get your buybacks done ahead of schedule, is my first question. And then my second question is around the broader category, the broader beer category. And one of your peers recently highlighted a medium-term outlook for global beer of about 1% volumes. And in putting the external environment to one side, how important is it that the rate of pricing required across the broader industry could start to moderate after the huge extremes over the last few years, given inflation and negative transaction? How important is it that the pricing going forward might become less meaningful in helping to stimulate volume growth.

Ayed, Fernando here. Let me take the first question and then I'll transition to Michel. When we talk about capital allocation, I think it's always important to put in context that the objective of the capital allocation is to create long-term shareholder value. The framework for is unchanged and remain very disciplined within our choices. What is evolving is that now that we have an improved balance sheet, we have increased flexibility. And what you see that we are exercising some flexibility. So the share buyback in itself It's an effective use of capital for shareholder value creation. If you think about it, as we move from an inorganic to inorganic transition, I think the first thing that was important for us was to give a framework so people understand the sort of growth that we can deliver. That's the medium-term outlook that we provided four years ago. Then if you look at what we did in the beginning of this year, we provide a framework which is the ambition for a progressive dividend. And I think now with the share buyback, it's just another natural evolution on that. A two-year share buyback of $6 billion. But that should not be seen on a standalone. It's the share buyback. It's also the entering dividend, which is consistent with our ambition of progressive dividend over time. And also the debt reduction that we announced, which is consistent with our capital allocation priorities.

so much more of an evolution uh and then and kind of uh the consequence of the additional flexibility that we have nowadays michelle yeah good morning thanks for the question uh i think that just building on the share by back point i think that there is a lot of consistency on the capital location choices and this of course that is the return to shareholders, the debt, but that is the number one priority that we have, which is organic growth. And we'll continue to invest for this number one priority, which is drive the category and the company forward in an organic basis. And in terms of the category overall, I think that we shared with you during the Capital Markets Day the view that we have around the category and the potential that we see for future growth coming from structural tailwinds related to economic growth, demographics, and where this growth most likely will come from, developing and emerging markets, where we have a strong footprint, strong growth to market, and scale. Therefore, we are in the same line where the full potential of the category today will be around 1 percent growth in normal conditions. And the more we increase the addressable market, which is beyond beer propositions, there are opportunities for us to further stretch this growth, right? Looking at the short term, I think that we see this Latin America impact on the beer category overall. So, Latin America is very important for CPGs, but is much more important for the beer category to the range of almost twice the size that it represents for beer versus other CPGs. We saw some pressure across CPGs overall in Latin America, but this is more impactful for beer and even more for us because Latin America is much bigger for us than it is for beer overall and for other CPGs. And when you think about price, So there are, I think, two components on that. One is that beer is an affordable category, and affordability is very important for beer. And after three, four years of high cost pressure, high inflation for us and for consumers in general, of course, we had to be very disciplined in revenue management and to recover our margins. Of course, you just saw During the webcast, we continue to recover our margins over time because of revenue, but also cost discipline. And as we look forward, inflation is normalized, coming down. So we would expect less pressure on the prices coming from inflation. But I'm on the view that we should be very disciplined as category leaders to continue to build over time the capabilities move prices with inflation so we can continue to recover our margins but also have a good category and ability to deliver on the investments and everything that we want to do for the future and how you do that so you need to balance as we always do the affordability with the ability to build brands because premium brands they command premium price use the right revenue management capability. So a good revenue management strategy needs to deliver at least with inflation. And this is in the long run because in the long run we need to capture the cost increase and the opportunities that we have to premiumize in the market. So nothing changed on our side there. I think that what's going to change is a little bit of the environment because inflation is coming down. Therefore, less pressure will hit consumers.

Thanks for the question. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Mitch Collette with Deutsche Bank. Please proceed with your questions.

Thank you. Hi, Michelle. Hi, Fernando. I've also got two questions, I think one for each of you. So the first one is on longer-term volume growth. I mean, you've cited some of the external factors that have impacted not just this quarter, but overall 2025. So how do you think about volume growth longer term for the category, particularly in your footprint? And you gave the comment that 2026 offers an incredible opportunity to activate the beer category. Do you think you can get back to volume growth in 2026? And then my second question, which I think is for Fernando, is can you give us any color at this stage? I know it's early on. the potential impact of input costs in 2026. And I'm specifically thinking about the impact of FX and the timing of your FX hedges.

Thank you. Hi, Mitch. Good morning.

So I think that you're right, like 2025 is being very typical. And that is this. combination of the pressure that inflation has been built over consumer and the consumer baskets. We see this overall across many markets, reduction on the total basket, while beer and alcohol have been maintaining the share of baskets. So it's really about a little bit of pressure on consumption. There is this big one-off of this change in the weather pattern because of the La Nina that is impacting the Americas and some countries such as Brazil were heavily impacted by that. But the fundamentals behind the category growth, they remain the same. And as you said before, a lot of this growth projected to be over 80% will come from developing and developed markets. Our footprint is very strong in these regions. and I see no reason today why this will change over time. Next year then becomes a very special year, and while you know that we don't guide for volume, we see the outlook as positive, one, because less pressure on consumers coming from lower inflation. So, as salaries rebuild, purchase power rebuilds, Prices tend to normalize, so consumers tend to be in a better position. But they're not making any forecasts on the consumer sentiment, neither the purchase power for next year. Consumer sentiment is impacting this year, and as everybody else, we hope that things will normalize over time. If this bounces back, it should be a positive as well overall for CPGs. Weather. Hard to believe that's going to be worse than what we saw this year. The worst case scenario should be the same, but we think that can be better. And then we have FIFA. FIFA over time is being 0.2 to 0.25 impact on the category in the years that we have the games. The fact that it's going to happen in North America is great for the category because it's going to impact the overall Americas, of course, but then has great viewership time across Europe and Africa. And, of course, in Asia, people always adapt. The nightlife is much stronger as a consumer occasion in Asia. in APAC. So I think that's going to be a great year for FIFA. Everybody's very excited. The games will be longer next year because more teams, so more people participating. So we can't wait to see the fans across the globe gathering and gathering over a beer to watch for that. So continue to work hard, focusing on what we can control. You see that the growth of non-alcohol is a great opportunity for us. Our Beyond Beer portfolio continues to accelerate, and we continue to innovate in the balance choices. So we are providing more options for consumers in more occasions. So we are doing our part, and we are looking forward to see how consumers will react next year. Thank you for the question.

And hi, Mitch. Fernando here. So your question on COG. So we don't provide any specific guidance on cost of goods solds. But, you know, our hedging policy always hedge 12 months ahead. So if you look at where FX is today and what it was one year ago, you can get a good sense on that. From where the market is, it's kind of more like a normal year, once again. I think we said a normal year in 2025. I think 2026 is more of a normal year. Different dynamics in different markets. I think... Next year, probably, given what you see, Midwest premium today, probably a little bit more pressure on the US. But then again, this is based on current market prices. They can always move around. And it affects a little bit the other way around, as we saw in 2025. In 2025, we saw more pressure in the first half, given the price. current behavior in 2024 and less and about pressure in the second half i'm sorry and less pressure in the first half in 2026 given how things are evolving things continue to be the same way likely to be the other way around but then again this is basically on current effects we still have two months to go but uh let's keep monitoring that very helpful

Thank you.

Our next questions come from the line of Lawrence White with Barclays. Please proceed with your questions.

Afternoon, Michelle and Fernando. Thanks so much for the questions. A couple from me as well, please. Firstly, you kindly gave some information on the exit rate in Mexico, suggesting that was improving throughout the quarter. I was wondering if you had a similar view on what was happening in both Brazil and Colombia, just to see if we're getting a similar consumer improvement in other parts of Latin America. And then, secondly, perhaps, Fernando, historically, you would say that going below two times net-to-EBITDA was value-destructive for AB InBev. Just wondering if you could continue to share that view and what steps you could take if that metric were to be getting close to being hit.

Thank you. Hey, Lawrence. Thanks for the question.

Yes, we made a comment on the exit rate for Mexico because I think that was very telling. the fact that once the price environment normalized a little bit, the weather was slightly better. We could see not only our market share bouncing back, but also volumes improving through August and September. Unfortunately, in Brazil, it's a tale of two stories. I think that the industry overall remains very impacted by this very unseasonable weather. And at this point, you can really say that it's unseasonable because the winter was cold. And yes, winters can be cold. But you see, September is usually much better weather in Brazil, even October, and still cold and wet in a very strange way. So Brazil didn't improve a lot for the weather. But of course, we've been adjusting our execution. relative prices in the market improved after more than a year of prices being very open on the gap. And our share bounced back strongly, which reinforces the strength of our portfolio, the way that our mega brands are growing in Brazil, and the share gains on the premium segment that continue to accelerate. When you look at Colombia, Colombia is not getting all this impact. So, Colombia volumes continue to grow. Share of alcohol beverage continue to improve. Very strong performance. Consumer confidence is not that high, but it's not at low. Inflationary pressures in Colombia more moderate. So, consumer is in a better shape there. than it is in some other parts in Latin America. But of course, this all is being bouncing back, and now we are looking at the summer, so we can see really where the industry is going to land overall and how the weather is going to be. And as we said, as we look forward for 2026, some of these one-offs can actually be positive as we build back in 2026. Thanks for the question.

And Lawrence, Fernando here. So your question on leverage. We've been very consistent in saying that our optimal capital structure is around two times. But it's also fair to say that most of the benefit of leverage you get once you get to three times. And so the long-term goal is still two times, but you have less of an urgency to go there. And you can have more flexibility once you're below this level. which we reached at the end of last year. Of course, every year is going to be slightly different. Sometimes you have effects, fluctuations, but the resilience of our business gives us the consistency to be to be more on the, as I can say, more on the offense now, bear in mind that the priority number one is always organic growth. We keep investing. If you see this quarter, sales and marketing continue to invest there, but definitely way more flexibility and kind of still two times is the optimal capital structure.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next questions come from the line of Rob Ottenstein with Evercore ISI. Please proceed with your questions.

Great. Thank you very much. Two questions for me as well. So the first one is I want to focus on the announcement that you've won the Champions League. That came as a bit of a surprise to me. So maybe put that in the context of of how you're looking at sports and some of these big assets, how that's evolving. And most importantly, obviously, there's a lot of big numbers on this. So maybe, I don't know if you can talk about the numbers on this, but maybe talk about the ROIC, how you see that being an efficient use of marketing investment And also a little bit about timing. My understanding is that Heineken still has it for the next couple of years. So that's the first question on the Champions League. And then the second question, arguably in the U.S., perhaps the greatest success this year has been Cutwater. That's a brand that you've had for a number of years, and it's just exploded this year. So maybe kind of talk a little bit about the success that Cutwater is having this year. you know, what you think the drivers are for that, you know, whether you think that's sustainable, what you've learned from it, and can you take that model to other countries? Thank you.

Robert, good morning. Thanks for the questions. So starting with the recent announcement and the role of this event and occasions I would start by talking about consumers and this is the main reason why we do the investments and why we are lining up into mega platforms so consumers are behaving different and consumers are as usual evolving and And as such, it was very important as we build our strategy and we fine-tune our execution to make sure that we are leading and moving fast to where consumers are and will be more and more. And that's why when we start leading in terms of execution with this concept of mega platforms and mega brands, integrating our brand, with big partner, big partnerships, big events, and relevant cultural moments is key for our brands to win in the long term. And as I said before, these winning brands that command premium price and premium positioning are very important on our strategy. And this works for FIFA, this works for Netflix, This will also work for UEFA, which is an important component as we build this integration with platforms and cultural relevant moments that consumers are looking for, are talking about, and are experiencing. So it's all about the consumer, how we integrate our brands in these relevant cultural moments, and how our brands over-execute competitors and within the category so that's a great addition we could not be more excited with the opportunity and as everything moves 2027 is the right timeline for us to start executing on that the second part on the US and cut water I think that you've been following so we've been talking about this portion of the consumer and consumption occasions where bitter is not the choice, where more refreshing is not the choice, where people want to indulge a little bit more, where the palate is a little bit more sweet, right, and more mixed. And we decided to bet on that back in 2018. We've cut water. We've been building this brand very patiently, but we've built the brand in a very high quality way. So consistency, right distribution, right price is a premium brand, right investments, right consumer occasions. And as the brand improves availability, as consumers get to know the higher quality that we have on this proposition, and we position very right for the right occasion, I think that the brand is gaining relevance. So what we saw over the summer now is consistent brand building and relevance getting to a tipping point. And then this brand is now the number one share gainer in spirits, triple digits over the summer, becoming one of the top 10 spirits brands in the U.S., and build from scratch. So if one would say what we learned from that is that yes, we can build brands in a very relevant way. Yes, we can build this Beyond Beer segment to be what we expect to be for us. So incremental and something that will increase our addressable market. And we've been rolling out this notion of the Beyond Beer and how to tap into more occasions across many markets. So I gave here during the webcast the example of us rolling out now flying fish across many different markets from Africa to Europe to Americas. And the early results and indicators are very positive as well. So there is more to come. And we continue to build Cutwater. We are just at the beginning. So I think that the brand is still very small for us. is accelerating, and we have a big ambition to drive not only cut water, but neutral, and the other propositions that we've been betting on on this Beyond the BH space.

Thank you for the question.

Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Andrea Bistacchi with Bank of America. Please proceed with your questions.

Yes. Hi, guys. I have two also, please. This is the first one. So your volumes have been more challenging this year, but after nine months, you're still very much on track. In fact, you're at the middle of your 428 EBITDA guidance range. So I wanted to ask whether you've had to make any adaptations to the plans that you would have had at the beginning of the year, maybe more agile revenue management or something more tighter cost control? And again, then you would have had at the beginning of the year. If you could discuss this a touch. And then just on the MAZ, the Middle America Zone, there was a question earlier on Colombia. I just wanted to broaden it slightly. So Middle America's ex-Mexico is very profitable for you. It continues to deliver solid volume growth. So could you just discuss a bit on how the environment is in these markets, why you think it's different from, say, Mexico, Brazil, how confident you are in your ability to continue to deliver volume growth in these high-margin countries in the next 12 months or so. Thank you.

Andrea, good morning. Thanks for the question. I think that, in a way, they are in the same vicinity, right, on volume and how performance and our execution is adjusting, adapting on this environment. So I think that the environment is one that's very dynamic. And we've been seeing this, of course, over the last few years. But every year, there is some extra components. As I said before, to me, the extra component on this dynamic operating environment this year was the unseasonable weather in the Americas, but more pronounced in Latin America. And I think that we've been adjusting. So we often say here in-house that our strategy is just like beer, can be used in many different occasions. So we've been adapting the execution. We are very agile in relocating resources. Our portfolio has breadth that is useful for us in these moments because we have from premium brands to value propositions. that they can adapt and be used to accelerate a little bit our execution when it's needed. And of course, the discipline in cost management, the discipline in revenue management, was very, very important for us, and a differentiator, I would say, during this period, because despite a very challenging consumer environment, we are able to deliver margin expansion, EBITDA growth, EPS growth, so very solid financial results that are a product of our very solid operational capabilities and delivers through the quarter. And when you look at math, is not only very important for us and very relevant for our performance during the the quarter and in the long run but of course this quarter specifically because overweight in the beer category versus other cpgs and overweights for us abi was a big impact on the volume So it's relevant. We are adapting. Brands are performing very well. We continue to invest. We continue to manage the portion of the business that we control. And of course, in the long term, we continue to see this as a very relevant growth driver for the industry. And of course, we are best positioned to capture this growth over time with the operations scale and brands that we have in the region.

So thank you for the question.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Celine Pannuti with JP Morgan. Please proceed with your questions.

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. So my first question, could you, coming back maybe on the cut water question, but on a broader sense, How big is Beyond Beer now for you in terms of the portfolio? You said it grew, I think, 27%. Where do you see the capabilities outside or the opportunities outside of North America? And if you could help us a bit frame the growth journey and as well the profitability of that category, both in North America and outside of North America. And my second question, I mean, I think it was an impressive performance in gross margin despite some of the FX headwinds that you were facing. Could you give us a view on the building block on the gross margin performance in the quarter, please? Thank you.

Hi, Celine.

Good morning. Thanks for the question. So I think that I will hit some numbers quickly here to cover the points that you asked about. So I think that the last time that we talked about that, I mentioned that Beyond Beer is a great opportunity for us because it cuts across this interaction of the different alcohol beverages and is very incremental for us, right? So two-thirds, plus of the volume that we capture in these occasions from these consumers is incremental to our portfolio. I also remember that the last time that we talked about this, this was around 1% of our overall volume. So this today for us is around 2%. And it's growing 27%. So the opportunity here is huge. Because the addressable market outside of the beer category, you know, is very relevant and is bigger than the beer category itself. So it's a huge addressable market. Today is a very small portion of our volumes, but it is growing very fast. And again, it's all about the consumers. So there is a group of consumers there that they indulge in different occasions with different liquid profiles. And we've been learning a lot about that. And we've been having some very successful launch and scale up products in this area. So cut water, neutral, brutal fruit, flying fish, bush light apple to mention few of them. And they on average are sold at higher prices than the beer equivalent products that we have. So they have profitability per hectolitre per SKU that is higher than the profitability that we have with equivalent beer SKUs. And I think that we continue to work hard on that. Again, this is small for us today, 2% of the portfolio, but it's big in our opportunity to grow with more consumers in more occasions and in a very large addressable market of consumer occasions and volume pool. So I'll hand over to Fernando to the second question.

Okay, Céline. On the gross margin side, I think the gross margin side, one, is a function of your health brand portfolio. So you see the net revenues per hectolitre. As Michel said, premium brands commands premium pricing, so you can move with the revenue management agenda. The second component of that is is, of course, the cost of goods sold. And the cost of goods sold, you have one component that is the effects and commodities, which is market price. But you have the other components, which is the efficiencies, the kind of fixed costs. And there is always a kind of opportunity for us to keep driving on that. So for me, it's a combination of a strong portfolio with premium brands, and also driving efficiency on the cost of goods sold. And if you remember, we talked about it several times, that when we look for margins, we still see opportunities for us to improve our operations, to improve our margins, and a lot of that would be coming from gross profits. It's just delivering on what we already mentioned several times in the past.

Thank you. Our next question has come from the line of Simon Hales with Citi.

Please proceed with your questions.

Thank you. Hi, Michelle. Hi, Fernando. So my first question, I wonder, Michelle, could you talk a little bit more about China again? I wonder if you could quantify how big the D stock was in Q3 in the context of the little over 11% fall in volumes. And should we expect some further destocking, do you think, in Q4? And is there any reason to believe in overall terms that your Q4 volumes in China will be less bad than they have been in Q3? And perhaps just associated with that, you highlight some new innovations that you've got coming in the market, you know, Bud Magnum and some 1-litre cans. Are they in market yet or will they be in market in Q4? So that's the first question. And then second one, a little bit more briefly on. I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the early consumer and retail reaction to the launch of form energy in the US and maybe highlight what really differentiates that brand from other competitors in the energy space.

Hi, Simon. Good morning.

Thanks for the question. So, on China, I think that we highlighted in prior quarters is a kind of one-third of what we see in the volumes is coming from really geographical footprint, channel footprint. One-third comes from these adjustments on the inventories. And you give me here an opportunity to take to talk about this. So I think that just so I'm clear about the adjustments on the inventories, of course, when regions start to decline, we need to adjust our inventories with the wholesalers so we can have a healthy operating environment. And this is what we are doing this year. As channels shift as well, you have a second adjustment that needs to be done so we keep the channels healthy And once they rebound, so we can then grow with the channels without stressing the ecosystem. And one third is really the shift that happened between on and off-premise, where the off-premises start to growing faster The propositions that grew in the off-premise are more on the core plus, sub-premium, and then this caused a share loss for us because we were more on the off-premise, and we are, of course, smaller and less distributed in the off-premise. Here is where we are making most of the adjustments. So when we look at China, mostly of this adjustment is is being already done. There is still, of course, a little bit to be done as we go through October, November, December, but should not be beyond the fourth quarter. But at the same time, because we start expanding distribution of premise, adjusting innovation, adjusting execution, that will be a combination of continue to right-size the inventories, but then having acceleration on our SPRs. And some of the innovations that we launched and tested, you mentioned Bud Magnum. So very successful in India, very successful where we launched it in China. And we will start to roll it out now, not only the product itself, but some very interesting new packaging that are making a big strike in China will come to Bud Magnum. We have the new Corona can. It's called Drop Line can. which is a full-lead opening can that's very interesting. So we launched it first in 020, was a big success, and now we're going to expand distribution on this packaging. And we have some new deals coming on Harvey as well, not only the expansion of Zero Sugar, but some new propositions there that will be helpful as we further enhance our role to market in the off-premises. So inventory adjustments, one-third. channel shifts, one-third. These both should phase out as we go through the quarter four, and then we have increased availability in the off-premise, increased investments for execution, and innovation that will start to kick in in the quarter four, and will be very relevant for us in the next year. Form is interesting because, in a way, We've been participating on the energy drink in the US for over a decade. And we have had some very successful scale up of brands in our network, but we were never majority owners of any of these brands. So while we were an important component of the scale up and growth of these brands, we were not the owners So the latest one we divested at the beginning of this year, at the end of last year, was a good divestment, was a good run of the brand. But now we have a brand that we are majority owners, committed to the long-term, incredible partners that are with us in the journey from our wholesalers to the form partners to the UFC, not UFC, but Dana White. partner with us in building that. So brand launch has been very exciting. The product is great because I think that the most differentiated thing is the fact that we are focused on a very specific consumer cohort, those who do the work and need this energy every day. The product brings this clean energy approach, very balanced elements, And I think that the proposition is a strong one. It's getting good traction. And we are just at the beginning. So I think that there will be a nice upside coming next year because the launch was this year. Distribution is building. Awareness is building. And we have some flavors that we are expanding on the back end of this year and will be fully available next year. And most important thing here is our commitment and investment to the long term, because now we are majority owners of the brand and we have incredible partners that are with us on the journey. So thanks for the question.

Thank you. These were the final questions. If your question has not been answered, please feel free to contact the investor relations team. I will now turn the floor back over to Mr. Michelle Dukaris for closing remarks.

So thank you very much. Thank you, everyone, for joining, for the ongoing partnership and support for our business. I hope that you are all doing well. Remember to drink a beer for Halloween, and we'll talk soon. Thank you.

Thank you. This does conclude today's earnings conference call and webcast. Please disconnect your lines at this time and enjoy the rest of your day.