Ambev Reports 2011 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results Under IFRS

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Ambev

Mar 08, 2012, 01:03 ET

SAO PAULO, March 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Companhia de Bebidas das Americas – Ambev [BOVESPA: AMBV4, AMBV3; andNYSE: ABV, ABVc] announces today its results for the 2011 fourth quarter (Q4 2011) and full year results. The following financial and operating information, unless otherwise indicated, is presented in nominal Reais and prepared in accordance with International Financial and Reporting Standards (IFRS), and should be read in conjunction with our financial information for the twelve months period ended December 31, 2011 filed with the CVM and submitted to the SEC.

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

Top line performance: In the fourth quarter, Net sales increased 11.6% driven mainly by price increases partially offset by higher taxes, Net Revenue/hl grew 10.6%, and our organic volumes increased 0.9% across regions.  This performance enabled us to end 2011 with Net sales increasing 9.9%, Net Revenue/hl growing 9.0% while volumes grew 0.8% compared to FY 2010.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) and Selling, General & Administrative (SG&A) expenses: COGS/hl increased by 4.4% in the quarter mainly due to raw materials and packaging costs, which were partially offset in the quarter by gains in currency hedges and an easier comparison with 4Q10 that was impacted by imported cans. SG&A (excl. depreciation & amortization) increased by 7.2% in Q4 2011 mainly as a result of general inflation and logistics costs, partially offset by phasing of commercial expenses in some of our operations.  For the year both COGS/hl and SG&A (excl. depreciation & amortization) grew below inflation at 6.6% yoy impacted also by our cost saving initiatives.

EBITDA, Operating Cash generation and Profit: Our Normalized EBITDA reached R$ 4,506.1 million in Q4 2011, an organic growth of 21.4%, while margin continued to further expand (+440bps) reaching 53.8% in the period.  Our full year Normalized EBITDA was R$ 13,141.1 million (+14.8% yoy), with a margin expansion of 210 bps giving us a record 48.4% EBITDA margin.  Cash generated from operations in Q4 was R$ 5,791.9 million (+44.3% as compared to 4Q10) and R$ 13,785.8 million for the year (+19.3% vs FY 2010).  Our Normalized Profit was R$ 3,046.0 million (+14.8%) in the quarter, while our Normalized Earnings per share (EPS) increased 14.3%.  Our full year Normalized Profit reached R$ 8,617.9 million, with Normalized EPS growing 11.2%.

CAPEX: In the fourth quarter we completed our plan for the year by investing R$ 726.1 million, bringing the total for the year to R$ 3,200.2 million, most of which was aimed at improving our production capacity in Brazil.

Pay-out and Financial discipline: We paid R$ 5.4 billion in dividends and Interest on Own Capital in 2011.  We have also announced a dividend and Interest on Own Capital of R$ 2.5 billion to be paid starting on April 10, 2012.


Financial highlights – Ambev consolidated 


% As

%



% As

%

R$ million

4Q10

4Q11

Reported

Organic

YTD 10

YTD 11

Reported

Organic

Total volumes

48,038.7

48,145.5

0.2%

0.9%

165,142.5

165,043.9

-0.1%

0.8%

Beer

34,426.6

34,553.6

0.4%

1.3%

119,158.6

118,729.8

-0.4%

0.7%

CSD and NANC

13,612.1

13,591.9

-0.1%

-0.1%

45,984.0

46,314.2

0.7%

0.9%










Net sales

7,455.3

8,378.4

12.4%

11.6%

25,233.3

27,126.7

7.5%

9.9%

Gross profit

5,002.9

5,841.1

16.8%

14.6%

16,784.3

18,333.4

9.2%

11.2%

Gross margin

67.1%

69.7%

260 bps

180 bps

66.5%

67.6%

110 bps

80 bps

EBITDA

3,755.1

4,492.7

19.6%

23.3%

11,590.1

13,164.2

13.6%

16.2%

EBITDA margin

50.4%

53.6%

330 bps

510 bps

45.9%

48.5%

260 bps

260 bps

Normalized EBITDA

3,822.0

4,506.1

17.9%

21.4%

11,707.0

13,141.1

12.2%

14.8%

Normalized EBITDA margin

51.3%

53.8%

250 bps

440 bps

46.4%

48.4%

200 bps

210 bps

Profit - Ambev holders

2,585.8

3,032.5

17.3%


7,561.4

8,641.0

14.3%


Normalized Profit - Ambev holders

2,652.3

3,046.0

14.8%


7,712.2

8,617.9

11.7%


No. of share outstanding (millions)

3,103.2

3,117.2



3,103.2

3,117.2



EPS (R$/shares)

0.83

0.97

16.7%


2.44

2.77

13.8%


Normalized EPS

0.85

0.98

14.3%


2.49

2.76

11.2%





Note: Earnings per share calculation are based on outstanding shares (total existing shares excluding shares held in treasury).

This press release segregates the impact of organic changes from those arising from changes in scope or currency translation. Scope changes represent the impact of acquisitions and divestitures, the start up or termination of activities or the transfer of activities between segments, curtailment gains and losses and year over year changes in accounting estimates and other assumptions that management does not consider as part of the underlying performance of the business. Unless stated, percentage changes in this press release are both organic and normalized in nature. Whenever used in this document, the term “normalized” refers to performance measures (EBITDA, EBIT, Profit, EPS) before special items. Special items are either income or expenses which do not occur regularly as part of the normal activities of the Company. They are presented separately because they are important for the understanding of the underlying sustainable performance of the Company due to their size or nature. Normalized measures are additional measures used by management and should not replace the measures determined in accordance with IFRS as indicators of the Company’s performance. Comparisons, unless otherwise stated, refer to the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4 2010) or full year (FY 2010), as the case may be. Values in this release may not add up due to rounding.

CONTACT:
Tatiana S F Rodrigues
Ambev - Investor Relations
+55 (11) 2122-1414
[email protected]

SOURCE Ambev