Coors is like Budweiser, you should never let your friends see you drinking it. Coors Lite and Bud Lite are even worse. That’s not my opinion, that’s what they teach you when you grow up in Wisconsin. They also tell you to be careful repeating that to anyone associated with Coors, based on the fact that their owner’s name is Adolf ,and he could make a simple call to a number of CIA trained Nicaraguan guerrillas, that he played benefactor to, and have you erased. Strike one and two.
Growing up in Wisconsin you also came to love Molson; a beer, considerably better than most that come out of Milwaukee, yet cheapish, given the proximity to Canada, …..that is of course until Molson acquired Coors and just confused everyone. I won’t even mention the heads sent spinning when they partnered with Miller.
This confusion from an 80’s upbringing in America’s Dairyland, along with their beer drinking tenets, was mirrored today by Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) (NYSE:TAP.A)’s earnings report.
Net sales were $999.4 million, up from $933.6 million a year earlier, and topping analysts’ average estimate of $934.8 million.
The company sold 13.9 million hectoliters of beer, a 6.4 percent increase from the prior year.
But in something that can only be described as fantastically Canadian, or a nod to the Mayan calendar that has doomed us all, the maker of Molson Canadian, Coors Light, and Blue Moon beers, also saw increased sales in Canada, due to a change in the timing of when Canada Day fell in the company’s fiscal calendar. It shipped more beer in advance of the holiday during the second quarter this year, as opposed to the third quarter last year.
Other notables that were announced today:
Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP’) (NYSE:TAP.A)’s second-quarter earnings slumped 53% on higher costs, though the top line was bolstered by higher volume in Canada, and the early benefits of recently acquired European brewer StarBev LP.
Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP’) (NYSE:TAP.A) has pushed into emerging markets, like China, for growth, and to get an even greater foothold abroad, the company, in June, completed its roughly $3.4 billion acquisition of Central and East European brewer StarBev. The deal gives Molson access to a region where the beer market is growing as the middle class expands, though investors have fretted about the transaction costs and integration worries.
The latest quarter included two weeks of the company’s new Central European operations. Pro forma sales volume grew 1.4%, but underlying profit slid 37%, as volume and pricing gains were more than offset by unfavorable foreign currency moves and input cost inflation.
Beer has never been an accurate representation of the economy as a whole, that’s craft beer’s job. If you don’t have a job you simply drink more bad beer in the afternoon. In a good economy, you drink less beer that costs more.
