Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE:BUD) shrugged off the ongoing Bud Light boycott to cruise past market estimates as higher prices meant record revenues in a score of markets.
Shares in the Budweiser and Stella Artois brewer jumped 5% in New York's pre-market trading as revenues rose by 2.6% while underlying profits climbed by 5.4% as cost pressures eased.
Brazil and South Africa both saw record numbers said the brewer, making up for the ongoing problems in the US, where the Bud Light boycott meant sales dropped by more than 9%.
AB InBev reported normalised profits [EBITDA] of US $5 billion, adding it expects growth over the full year to be between 4% and 8%.
"ABI has got its (likely) hardest quarter of 2024 out of the way with little to no bruises," Barclays analyst Laurence Whyatt said in a note.
"Bud Light continues to weigh on results, but this is the last quarter to face a significant impact."
Bud Light has been targeted by neo-cons for almost a year now following a social media promotion involving transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
In Europe, sales growth was in “high single-digits” helped by higher prices, while margins are being helped by falls in prices of key raw materials such as barley.
Rivals Carlsberg and Heineken also reported good first quarters helped by higher prices as customers carried on drinking regardless.