<![CDATA[Growth, Brands and More: Alcoholic Beverages]]>https://www.filibertoamati.com/s/alcoholic-beverageshttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qynt!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2751adcb-ebf9-4424-83d4-2d3eb37d8a2e_1280x1280.pngGrowth, Brands and More: Alcoholic Beverageshttps://www.filibertoamati.com/s/alcoholic-beveragesSubstackWed, 05 Aug 2026 20:34:53 GMT<![CDATA[AB InBev Near-Flat Volume. It Still Works.]]>https://www.filibertoamati.com/p/ab-inbev-near-flat-volume-it-stillhttps://www.filibertoamati.com/p/ab-inbev-near-flat-volume-it-stillWed, 05 Aug 2026 18:23:21 GMT
Corona Extra bottle on seashore during daytime
Photo by Jake Bradley on Unsplash

HY 2026: total volume up 0.8%. Net revenue up 5.7% organically. EBITDA margin holding at 35.6%. That gap between volume and revenue growth is not an accident. It is the entire operating model.

Most FMCG operators treat flat volume as a warning sign, something to fix before it becomes a trend. AB InBev has built a five-year turnaround on proving the opposite. A brewer can grow revenue and margins for years without needing to move much volume at all. HY 2026 is the cleanest demonstration yet.

The numbers behind the model

Second-quarter organic revenue grew 5.6% to $16,660 million. First-half organic revenue grew 5.7%, taking total six-month revenue to $31,927 million. Reported revenue was even stronger, up 11.0% in the quarter and 11.5% for the half, helped by favourable currency translation. None of that came from selling more beer. Net revenue per hectolitre rose 4.2% in the quarter and 4.3% across the half, the real engine behind the top line.

Total volumes grew just 0.9% in the quarter and 0.8% for the half. Beer volumes did slightly better, up 1.1% in the quarter and 1.2% for the half, reaching 280,412 thousand hectolitres. Non-beer volumes fell, down 1.1% in the quarter and 1.5% for the half, on soft beverage shifts in South America.

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