AB InBev sees ‘materially worse’ second quarter after first-quarter profit drop

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Anheuser-Busch InBev , the world’s largest beer maker, reported a decline in profit in the first quarter as coronavirus restrictions curbed drinking and said the second quarter would be “materially worse”.

The brewer of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois has already withdrawn its guidance for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and proposed to halve its final 2019 dividend.

First quarter core profit (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation or EBITDA) came in at $3.95 billion, down 13.7% from a year earlier. That compared with a company-compiled consensus of a 14.7% drop.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)