AB InBev says it has faith in the resilience of its global beer market. Picture: BLOOMBERG/GEERT VANDEN WIJNGAERT
The world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), has written down its business by $2.5bn (R41bn) due to the risks posed by Covid-19 to sales in Africa, including SA where alcohol sales remain prohibited.

The group, which has a market capitalisation of about R1.7-trillion, reported that April volumes declined by 32.4%, May volumes dropped by 21.4%, though June volumes grew by 0.7%, “demonstrating the resilience of the global beer category”.

“We came out of the quarter with reinforced confidence in the resilience of our business and the global beer category,” the group said.

In morning trade on Thursday, AB InBev’s share had surged 9.75% to R1,022.05, putting it on track for its best one-day performance since March.

Article Source: https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/retail-and-consumer/2020-07-30-ab-inbev-suffers-25bn-writedown-due-to-covid-19/