1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Bud Light and Budweiser represent nearly all of AB's 3.4%, 13.3-mil-case beer volume decline YTD thru Sep 7 in Circana multi-outlet + convenience data. Down 12.5 mil cases between 'em. They still collectively account for 1/3 of AB's beer volume mix in scans. Yet the remaining 2/3 of its beer portfolio is collectively flattish (-0.3%) YTD including up 0.5% for last 12 wks thru Sep 7; even better lately including spirits. AB's beer portfolio is shoring up in several other beer segments, posting growth in superpremium and non-alc, both entirely fueled by Mich Ultra, and gaining significant share thru its subpremium portfolio, fueled by Busch Light/extensions, despite some sizable brand drops in each of those buckets. In fact, subpremium is now AB's largest segment by volume at 33.5% of its beer mix (26% of $$), outselling Bud Light/Bud volume. That's a shocking development that came to be just in the last couple yrs; in 2022, Bud Light/Bud were still nearly 40% of AB's $$ and over 40% of volume in scans. Then too, superpremium is now AB's biggest segment by $$, over 1/3 of its mix (including Stella w/ superpremium) and nearly 28% of volume. Mich Ultra alone accounts for 26% of AB beer $$ and 23% of volume.Co's also stabilizing in craft and FMB, outpacing respective segment trends and even gaining slight share of total beer. Growth from Goose Island, Elysian and Wicked Weed driving craft improvements, and double-digit gains from Ritas, MD 2020 Spiked, Hoop Tea, plus new test brands Beats Senses and Shaken Hard Refreshers are improving AB FMBs. AB's hard seltzer biz remains extra soft, down more than 30% and -0.1 share of beer. But this seems to be the last yr where seltzer drops will impact AB's results meaningfully, as the portfolio's down to just 0.5% of co's volume mix. And co's got little to no game left in imports after shifting Stella to domestic production, and Estrella Jalisco volume down 10% in scans. Against a soft industry backdrop, that's been enuf to get AB back to industry-leading volume share gains in 2025 so far. If AB's able to shore up on Bud Light/Bud even slightly and keep other parts of its biz hummin' into 2026, its total picture improves further.AB Subpremium Volume -1%, $$ Up Slightly YTD; AB Superpremium Volume +2%, Even w/ Stella Drop Mich Ultra, Busch Light and Mich Ultra Zero are what's making AB tick in superpremium, subpremium and non-alc beer segments. AB's subpremium portfolio volume dipped just 1% with $$ up 0.4%. That's even as Natural Light (-5.5%), Busch regular (-11%), Bud Ice (-5%), Natty Ice (-8%), Rolling Rock (-11%) and Busch Ice (-6%) are down big. Tho Natty Daddy (+6%) and its low-priced malt liquor brands, Hurricane High Gravity (+3%) and smaller King Cobra brand (+4.6%), are posting solid gains, on top of significant growth from Busch Light and extensions.AB's superpremium portfolio grew more than 2% by volume YTD. Mich Ultra makes up around 3/4 of the entire superpremium segment sales even with Stella included (Circana report includes Stella in imports segment currently but INSIGHTS' analysis pulls it into superpremium since production moved to US). So wherever Ultra goes, the segment tends to go too. Yet Mich Ultra grew 4.6% while all other superpremium brands collectively declined. Other Michelob superpremium brands were down 3%, tho Mich Ultra Pure Gold, Lime Cactus and Amber Bock are improving lately. Bud Specialty family (primarily Bud Light/Bud Cheladas, Bud Light Platinum and Bud Light Lime) was down 8%, with Cheladas down 4%, and Platinum and Lime down low-double-digits. Plus, Stella was down 8%.AB Non-Alc Beer Up 25% YTD and Accelerating; 1.2% of AB Beer Volume Non-alc beer is AB's fastest growing segment by far but accounts for just 1.2% of its volume mix. Still, NA beer is now bigger than FMBs (0.8%) for co. AB non-alc beer volume grew 25% YTD, accelerating to +37% for latest 4 wks as Mich Ultra Zero ramps up. Indeed, Stella 0.0 slowed to low-single-digit growth in recent periods, Busch NA is off 1%, and both Bud Zero and O'Douls are down double digits lately. So Mich Ultra Zero is driving virtually all of AB's NA growth thruout summer in scans. Tho Stella 0.0 volume still up 13% for the year.Spirits are ~2.5% of AB's Alc Bev Mix YTD in Scans, Over 3% for Last 12 Wks, Neck & Neck w/ AB Craft Spirits portfolio is rising among AB's top segments when lookin' at total alc bev picture as Cutwater and NUTRL reach new levels. They're up to ~2.5% of AB's total alc bev revs and 1% of volume YTD thru Sep 7 in Circana MULC. Cutwater alone is ~1.5% on its own with sales up 37% to $152 mil from 2 mil cases. That's bigger than AB's entire FMB/hard seltzer portfolio combined. NUTRL's nearing 1% of AB's $$ mix on its own, up more than 22% to $85.5 mil, 1.6 mil cases. Bigger than any of AB's craft brand families by $$ in these channels. And for latest 12 wks, AB spirits accelerated, rising to over 3% of AB alc bev $$, putting that portfolio neck and neck with AB craft beer $$.

AB's Shoring Up in Most Beer Segments Other than Premium; Subpremium Its Biggest Vol Segment; Superpremium #1 by $$

Publishing Info