(BUD) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to Anheuser-Busch InBev's First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast. Hosting the call today from AB InBev are Mr. Michel Doukeris, Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Fernando Tennenbaum, Chief Financial Officer. To access the slides accompanying today's call, please visit AB InBev's website at www.ab-inbev.com and click on the Investors tab and the Reports and Results Center page. Today's webcast will be available for on-demand playback later today. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎參加百威英博 2024 年第一季財報電話會議和網路廣播。今天主持百威英博電話會議的是執行長 Michel Doukeris 先生；以及財務長 Fernando Tennenbaum 先生。要存取今天電話會議附帶的幻燈片，請訪問百威英博網站 www.ab-inbev.com，然後點擊「投資者」標籤以及「報告和結果中心」頁面。今天的網路廣播將於今天稍晚提供點播播放。 （操作員說明）

Some of the information provided during the conference call may contain statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements. These expectations are based on management's current views and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. It is possible that AB InBev's actual results and financial condition may differ possibly materially from the anticipated results in the financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements.

電話會議期間提供的一些資訊可能包含未來預期的陳述和其他前瞻性陳述。這些預期是基於管理階層目前的觀點和假設，涉及已知和未知的風險和不確定性。百威英博的實際業績和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中所示財務狀況的預期結果有重大差異。

For a discussion of some of the risks and important factors that could affect AB InBev's future results, see risk factors in the company's latest annual report on Form 20-F filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the 11th of March 2024. AB InBev assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information provided during the conference call and shall not be liable for any action taken in reliance upon such information.

有關可能影響百威英博未來業績的一些風險和重要因素的討論，請參閱該公司於 2024 年 3 月 11 日向美國證券交易委員會提交的最新 20-F 表格年度報告中的風險因素。沒有義務更新或修改電話會議期間提供的任何前瞻性信息，也不對依賴此類資訊採取的任何行動承擔責任。

It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mr. Michel Doukeris. Sir, you may begin.

現在我很高興請米歇爾·杜克里斯先生發言。先生，您可以開始了。

Thank you, and welcome, everyone, to our first quarter 2024 earnings call. It is a great pleasure to be speaking with you all today. Today, Fernando and I will take you through our first quarter operating highlights and provide you with an update on the progress we've made in executing our strategic priorities. After that, we'll be happy to answer your questions.

謝謝並歡迎大家參加我們的 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天很高興與大家交談。今天，費南多和我將向您介紹我們第一季的營運亮點，並向您介紹我們在執行策略重點方面取得的最新進展。之後，我們將很樂意回答您的問題。

Let's start with our operating performance and the key highlights for the quarter. We are encouraged by our continued momentum and results to start the year. We delivered broad-based top line and bottom line growth with market share gains and volume increases in the majority of our markets. Our mega brands led our growth. with 6.7% net revenue increase. EBITDA increased by 5.4%, in line with our medium-term growth ambition and 2024 outlook, with operational efficiencies driving margin expansion of 90 basis points this quarter. As we continue to optimize our business, underlying U.S. dollar EPS grew by 16%, driven by nominal EBITDA growth and improved net finance costs.

讓我們從我們的經營業績和本季的主要亮點開始。我們對年初持續的勢頭和成果感到鼓舞。我們實現了廣泛的收入和利潤成長，大多數市場的市場份額和銷量均有所增加。我們的大型品牌引領了我們的成長。淨收入成長 6.7%。 EBITDA 成長 5.4%，符合我們的中期成長目標和 2024 年前景，營運效率推動本季利潤率擴大 90 個基點。隨著我們不斷優化業務，在名目 EBITDA 成長和淨財務成本改善的推動下，基本美元每股收益成長了 16%。

The digital transformation of our business provides opportunities to generate additional profitability and revenue streams. This quarter, this marketplace continued to expand, delivering $465 million in gross merchandising value of non-API products, a 47% increase versus last year. While it is only the first quarter of the year, we are pleased with our start and are uniquely positioned to activate the category in 2024 through our mega brands and mega platforms.

我們業務的數位轉型提供了產生額外獲利能力和收入流的機會。本季度，該市場繼續擴張，非 API 產品的銷售總價值達到 4.65 億美元，比去年增長 47%。雖然這只是今年第一季度，但我們對我們的開局感到滿意，並且擁有獨特的優勢，可以透過我們的大型品牌和大型平台在 2024 年激活該類別。

Turning to Slide 6. You can see that total revenue grew by 2.6% with revenue per hectoliter increasing by 3.3% as a result of revenue management initiatives and ongoing premiumization. Total volumes declined by 0.6% as growth in the majority of our markets was offset by our volume performance in the U.S., Argentina and China. Underlying EPS was $0.75, a 16% increase versus last year. As we noted at our full year '23 results for 2024, the definition of organic growth in Argentina has been amended to cap the price growth to a maximum of 26.8% year-over-year.

轉向投影片 6。總銷量下降了 0.6%，因為我們大多數市場的成長被美國、阿根廷和中國的銷售表現所抵消。基本每股收益為 0.75 美元，比去年增長 16%。正如我們在 2024 年 23 年全年業績中指出的那樣，阿根廷的有機成長定義已被修改，將價格同比增長上限限制在 26.8%。

Our global momentum continued this quarter. With revenue growth in more than 75% of our markets and with bottom line increases and margin expansion in 4 of our 5 operating regions. Our scale and diverse geographic footprint has us well placed to deliver superior long-term value creation.

本季我們的全球勢頭仍在繼續。我們超過 75% 的市場收入成長，5 個營運區域中的 4 個區域實現利潤成長和利潤率擴張。我們的規模和多元化的地理足跡使我們有能力創造卓越的長期價值。

Now I'll take a few minutes to walk you through the operational highlights for the quarter from our key regions, starting with North America. In the U.S., the beer industry remains resilient with beer volumes improving sequentially through the quarter and dollar sales continue to grow versus last year. Our revenues declined by high single digits with STW volumes down by 10.1%. While our mainstream beer volumes declined, our above core beer mega brands and spirit-based ready-to-drink portfolio continued to grow. Our market share trend has continued to improve gradually from May 2023 with total market share now flat versus last year.

現在，我將花幾分鐘時間向您介紹本季我們主要地區（從北美開始）的營運亮點。在美國，啤酒產業仍保持彈性，本季啤酒銷售持續成長，美元銷售額與去年相比持續成長。我們的收入出現高個位數下降，STW 銷量下降了 10.1%。雖然我們的主流啤酒銷售量下降，但我們上述的核心啤酒大品牌和以烈酒為基礎的即飲產品組合仍持續成長。自 2023 年 5 月起，我們的市佔率趨勢持續逐步改善，目前總市佔率與去年持平。

Our portfolio is regaining momentum with growth in key brands, such as Michelob ULTRA, Busch Light, Kona, Nutrl and Cutwater. Together with our wholesaler partners, we remain laser-focused on executing our long-term strategy.

隨著 Michelob ULTRA、Busch Light、Kona、Nutrl 和 Cutwater 等主要品牌的成長，我們的產品組合正在恢復勢頭。我們與批發商合作夥伴一起，繼續專注於執行我們的長期策略。

Now moving to mid-Americas. In Mexico, we delivered mid-single-digit top and bottom line growth with margin expansion. Volumes grew by mid-single digits, driven by the continued strong performance of our core portfolio.

現在轉移到美洲中部。在墨西哥，我們實現了中個位數的頂線和底線成長以及利潤率的擴張。在我們核心投資組合持續強勁表現的推動下，銷售量成長了中個位數。

In Columbia, our business delivered double-digit top line and high single-digit bottom line growth. Volumes grew by mid-single digits to reach a new record high for the first quarter with our portfolio continued to gain share of total alcohol. Our premium and super-premium brands grew volumes by more than 20%, led by Corona.

在哥倫比亞，我們的業務實現了兩位數的收入成長和高個位數的利潤成長。第一季銷售成長了中個位數，創下新高，我們的產品組合繼續增加總酒精份額。我們的高端和超高端品牌銷量成長了 20% 以上，其中 Corona 為首。

In South America, our business in Brazil delivered mid-single-digit top line and double-digit bottom line growth with margin expansion of 311 basis points. Volumes increased by 4.4% to reach a new record high for the first quarter. Our performance was led by our premium and super premium brands, which delivered volume growth in the low teens.

在南美洲，我們在巴西的業務實現了中個位數的營收成長和兩位數的淨利潤成長，利潤率擴大了 311 個基點。第一季銷量成長 4.4%，創歷史新高。我們的業績由我們的優質和超優質品牌引領，這些品牌實現了十幾歲以下的銷售成長。

Now let's talk about EMEA. In Europe, we grew top line by high single digits and bottom line by strong double digits with margin recovery. Volumes grew by mid-single digits, outperforming the industry according to our estimates. Our portfolio continues to premiumize, led by our mega brands, which delivered double-digit revenue growth. In South Africa, we again delivered record high first quarter volumes with double-digit top and bottom line growth and margin expansion. Volumes increased by mid-single digits, continuing to outperform the industry in both beer and total alcohol. Our performance was driven by our super-premium portfolio, which grew volumes by double digits, led by Corona and Stella plant.

現在我們來談談歐洲、中東和非洲地區。在歐洲，隨著利潤率的恢復，我們的收入實現了高個位數成長，淨利潤實現了強勁的兩位數成長。根據我們的估計，銷量成長了中個位數，表現優於產業。在我們的大型品牌的引領下，我們的產品組合持續高端化，實現了兩位數的營收成長。在南非，我們第一季的銷售再次創下歷史新高，營收和利潤都達到兩位數成長，利潤率也擴大。銷量成長了中個位數，啤酒和全酒精銷量繼續優於行業。我們的業績是由我們的超優質產品組合推動的，在 Corona 和 Stella 工廠的帶動下，該產品的銷量實現了兩位數的增長。

And finally, Asia Pacific. In China, our portfolio continued to premiumize and grow bottom line despite a soft industry. While our total volumes declined by mid-single digits in line with the industry, according to our estimates, our premium portfolio remained resilient with continued volume growth led by Budweiser.

最後是亞太地區。在中國，儘管行業疲軟，但我們的投資組合繼續高端化並提高利潤。儘管我們的總銷量與行業一致下降了中個位數，但根據我們的估計，我們的優質產品組合在百威啤酒引領的銷量持續增長的情況下保持彈性。

Now let's discuss our strategic pillars. Let's start with Pillar 1 of our strategy, lead and grow the category. We aim to lead and grow the category with an efficient and focused portfolio of mega brands. Our mega brands are the top brands in each market that make up the majority of our volume today and are expected to drive the majority of our growth going forward. We are disproportionately allocating sales and marketing investments behind these brands to accelerate brand power, build deep consumer connections and drive efficient profitable growth. and we are seeing the results.

現在讓我們來討論我們的策略支柱。讓我們從策略的第一支柱開始，引領並發展該類別。我們的目標是透過高效且專注的大型品牌組合來引領和發展該類別。我們的大型品牌是每個市場的頂級品牌，占我們今天銷售的大部分，預計將推動我們未來的大部分成長。我們在這些品牌背後不成比例地分配銷售和行銷投資，以加速品牌影響力、建立深厚的消費者聯繫並推動高效的利潤成長。我們正在看到結果。

Our mega brands are driving our growth, increasing net revenue by 6.7% in the quarter. led by Corona, which grew revenue by 15.5% outside of Mexico. Through the consistent execution of our replicable growth drivers, and our 5 category expansion levers, we are leading and growing the category by offering superior corporate propositions, developing new consumption occasions and expanding our premium and beyond beer portfolios.

我們的大型品牌正在推動我們的成長，本季淨收入成長了 6.7%。以 Corona 為首，該公司在墨西哥以外地區的收入成長了 15.5%。透過持續執行可複製的成長動力和 5 個類別擴展槓桿，我們透過提供卓越的企業主張、開發新的消費場合以及擴大我們的優質啤酒和其他啤酒產品組合來引領和發展該類別。

Now let's turn to our second strategic pillar, digitize and monetize our ecosystem. This continued to expand usage and reach, capturing approximately USD 11 billion in gross merchandising value, a 23% increase year-over-year and reaching 3.6 million monthly active users. Customer satisfaction improved with our Net Promoter Score improving to plus 61. BEES marketplace continued to accelerate, generating 7.3 million orders of non-ABI products and delivering USD 465 million in GMV this quarter, an increase of 47% versus last year.

現在讓我們轉向我們的第二個策略支柱，即我們的生態系統的數位化和貨幣化。使用量和覆蓋範圍不斷擴大，商品銷售總額約 110 億美元，年增 23%，每月活躍用戶達 360 萬。客戶滿意度提高，我們的淨推薦值提高到61 以上。 。

Now let's talk about how we are strengthening our direct relationship with our consumers. Through our digital direct-to-consumer platforms, we generated approximately 18 million unique orders this quarter. That's 18 million data points to generate deep consumer insights, develop new consumption occasions and drive incremental revenue for our business.

現在讓我們來談談我們如何加強與消費者的直接關係。透過我們的直接面向消費者的數位平台，本季我們產生了約 1800 萬份獨特訂單。這相當於 1800 萬個數據點，可產生深入的消費者洞察、開發新的消費場合並為我們的業務帶來增量收入。

With that, I would like to hand it over to Fernando to discuss the third pillar of our strategy, optimize our business. Fernando, over to you.

說到這裡，我想把它交給費爾南多來討論我們策略的第三個支柱，優化我們的業務。費爾南多，交給你了。

Thank you, Michel. Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. First, let me share how we have progressed on some of our 2025 sustainability goals in the first quarter.

謝謝你，米歇爾。大家早安，下午好。首先，讓我分享一下我們在第一季實現 2025 年部分永續發展目標的進展。

In Climate Action, we reduced Scopes 1 and 2 emissions per hectoliter of production by 6% year-over-year. We are also recognized by CDP as the 2023 supplier engagement leader for our work to drive decarbonization across our supply chain. In Water Stewardship, we continue to progress towards our 2025 goal to reach a water use efficiency ratio of 2.5 hectoliters per hectoliter achieving 2.55 this quarter. Our EBITDA margin improved by 90 basis points this quarter with margin expansion in 4 of our 5 regions. Our fundamental strengths, disciplined pricing, continued premiumization and efficient operating model creates an opportunity for further margin expansion over time.

在氣候行動中，我們將每百公升產品的範圍 1 和範圍 2 排放量比去年同期減少了 6%。我們也因推動整個供應鏈脫碳的工作而被 CDP 評為 2023 年供應商參與領導者。在水資源管理方面，我們持續朝著 2025 年的目標邁進，達到每百公升 2.5 百公升的用水效率，本季達到 2.55。本季我們的 EBITDA 利潤率提高了 90 個基點，5 個地區中有 4 個地區的利潤率擴大。我們的基本優勢、嚴格的定價、持續的高端化和高效的營運模式為隨著時間的推移進一步擴大利潤率創造了機會。

As you can see on the next page, in the first quarter, we continued to actively manage our bond portfolio. In March, we issued longer-term bonds and used part of the proceeds to reduce near- and medium-term maturity towers towards tender offer. These transactions improved our debt maturity profile while maintaining our weighted average gross debt coupon at approximately 4%. Our debt maturities remain well distributed with no relevant medium-term refinancing needs. We have approximately USD 4 billion worth of bonds maturing through 2026 and a weighted average maturity of 14 years. In addition, our debt portfolio does not have any financial covenants and it is comprised of a variety of currencies, diversifying our FX risk. 99% of our bonds have a fixed rates, insulated from interest rate volatility and inflation.

正如您在下一頁所看到的，在第一季度，我們繼續積極管理我們的債券投資組合。 3月份，我們發行了長期債券，並將部分收益用於減少近中期到期的要約收購。這些交易改善了我們的債務到期狀況，同時將我們的加權平均總債務票面利率維持在約 4%。我們的債務期限仍然分佈均勻，沒有相關的中期再融資需求。我們有價值約 40 億美元的債券將於 2026 年到期，加權平均期限為 14 年。此外，我們的債務組合沒有任何財務契約，由多種貨幣組成，分散了我們的外匯風險。我們 99% 的債券具有固定利率，不受利率波動和通貨膨脹的影響。

And now let me take you through the drivers of our underlying EPS this quarter. We delivered EPS of USD 0.75 per share, a $0.10 per share increase versus last year. Nominal EBITDA growth accounted for a $0.12 per share increase. Gross debt reduction combined with proactive cash flow management resulted in lower net interest expenses, which contributed a $0.05 per share increase.

現在讓我帶您了解本季基本每股盈餘的驅動因素。我們實現了每股 0.75 美元的每股收益，比去年增加了 0.10 美元。名目 EBITDA 成長導致每股成長 0.12 美元。總債務減少加上積極的現金流管理導致淨利息支出降低，每股收益增加 0.05 美元。

With respect to capital allocation, we are focused on maximizing long-term value creation by dynamically balancing our priorities. We continue to invest in organic growth to support our strategy. The excess cash generated by our business is then dynamically allocated across deleveraging, selective M&A and return of capital to shareholders. While deleveraging remains a priority with additional flexibility in our capital allocation choices. This quarter, we completed our USD 1 billion share buyback program that was announced in October last year and executed an additional USD 200 million direct share buy back from Altria. We remain disciplined in our capital allocation decisions to maximize value creation.

在資本配置方面，我們專注於透過動態平衡我們的優先事項來最大化長期價值創造。我們繼續投資於有機成長以支持我們的策略。然後，我們業務產生的多餘現金會動態分配到去槓桿、選擇性併購和向股東返還資本等方面。雖然去槓桿化仍然是我們的優先事項，但我們的資本配置選擇更加靈活。本季度，我們完成了去年 10 月宣布的 10 億美元股票回購計劃，並從奧馳亞額外執行了 2 億美元直接股票回購。我們在資本配置決策中保持嚴格，以最大限度地創造價值。

With that, I would like to hand it back to Michel for some final comments before we start our Q&A session. Michel?

因此，在我們開始問答環節之前，我想將其交還給米歇爾以徵求一些最終意見。米歇爾？

Thanks, Fernando. Before opening for Q&A, I would like to take a moment to recap on the quarter and look ahead and the unique opportunities that our mega brands have to activate the category in 2024.

謝謝，費爾南多。在開始問答之前，我想花點時間回顧一下本季並展望未來，以及我們的大型品牌在 2024 年激活該類別的獨特機會。

We continue to make progress in executing across each of our 3 strategic pillars. Driven by the continued momentum of our mega brands, we delivered top line growth in 75% of our markets. We progress our digital transformation generating approximately USD 11 billion of GMV through BEES with $465 million in GMV of third-party products through BEES marketplace. EBITDA grew by 5.4%, in line with our medium-term growth ambition and outlook for 2024, with 90 basis points of margin expansion. As we continue to optimize our business, underlying EPS increased by 16% versus last year.

我們在執行三大戰略支柱方面不斷取得進展。在我們大型品牌持續發展動能的推動下，我們在 75% 的市場實現了營收成長。我們推動數位轉型，透過 BEES 創造了約 110 億美元的 GMV，透過 BEES 市場為第三方產品創造了 4.65 億美元的 GMV。 EBITDA 成長 5.4%，符合我們的中期成長目標和 2024 年展望，利潤率擴大 90 個基點。隨著我們不斷優化業務，基本每股盈餘比去年成長了 16%。

Looking ahead to the summer and the rest of the year, we are uniquely positioned to activate the category. The combination of our mega brands with key platforms that consumers love and that bring people together is a powerful opportunity to lead and grow the category from the NBA, to Copa America, to Olympics, NFL, the UFC and music platforms like Tomorrowland and Lollapalooza. We will be focused on doing what we do best. Our brands will show up in a big way, connecting with consumers and bringing to life for purpose of creating a future with more cheers. We remain focused on the opportunities ahead of us. The beer category is large and growing, and our unique global leadership advantage, implementation of our replicable growth tool kits and our superior profitability position us well to generate value for our stakeholders.

展望夏季和今年剩餘時間，我們處於激活該類別的獨特地位。我們的大型品牌與消費者喜愛的、將人們聚集在一起的關鍵平台的結合，是一個強大的機會，可以引領和發展這個類別，從NBA、美洲杯、奧運會、NFL、UFC 以及Tomorrowland 和Lollapalooza 等音樂平台。我們將專注於做我們最擅長的事情。我們的品牌將大張旗鼓地亮相，與消費者產生聯繫，為消費者註入生命力，創造更多歡樂的未來。我們仍然專注於面前的機會。啤酒類別規模龐大且不斷增長，我們獨特的全球領導優勢、可複製增長工具包的實施以及卓越的盈利能力使我們能夠為利益相關者創造價值。

With that, I will hand it back to the operator for the Q&A.

這樣，我會將其交還給接線員進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Our first questions come from the line of Rob Ottenstein with Evercore ISI.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Rob Ottenstein。

Great start to the year. So I want to focus on the U.S. and kind of 2-part question. First is the data that we're getting shows very significant share gains on-premise for Michelob ULTRA and that when you kind of look at the way the year goes kind of by March, and you combine Michelob ULTRA, your other brands, you've recovered most of the share loss. Maybe it's about a 200 basis point gap as opposed to -- and the data that you showed us overall are off-premise kind of 460 basis points through March.

今年的良好開端。所以我想重點關注美國和由兩部分組成的問題。首先是我們得到的數據顯示 Michelob ULTRA 的本地份額增長非常顯著，當你看看今年 3 月份的情況，並將 Michelob ULTRA 和你的其他品牌結合起來，你會發現已經挽回了大部分股份損失。也許差距約為 200 個基點，而您向我們展示的總體數據是 3 月份 460 個基點的非預期數據。

So the first question is, is the data that we have roughly accurate and consistent with what you're seeing in terms of the on-premise? And then second and tied to that, what we're also seeing and particularly really accelerating in April, is incredibly strong results for Michelob ULTRA and for Busch Light, continued strong results for Nutrl and Cutwater, which then kind of when I kind of step back and think about it, kind of, obviously, a lot of pain from Bud Light, a horrible situation. But kind of going forward, it would appear to us that in a way, you have a stronger and more balanced portfolio with prospects for going forward, better growth and share gains, would you agree with that?

所以第一個問題是，我們掌握的數據是否大致準確且與您在本地看到的數據一致？其次，與此相關的是，我們還看到，特別是四月份加速的，是Michelob ULTRA 和Busch Light 的令人難以置信的強勁業績，Nutrl 和Cutwater 的持續強勁業績，然後當我邁出一步時，這有點像回想一下，顯然，百威淡啤酒給我帶來了很多痛苦，這是一個可怕的情況。但展望未來，在我們看來，在某種程度上，你擁有更強大、更平衡的投資組合，有前景、更好的成長和股票收益，你同意嗎？

Michel here. Thank you for the question. Let's start with the 2 parts of the question number 1 in terms of the brands and the current data that's available data from either Circana or some other sources in their own trade. So overall, we see a strong momentum on Michelob ULTRA as you were describing. And we all know how relevant the brand is and how much the brand has been growing over the years. But moreover, we are all aware of the headroom for growth that the brand has in terms of geographies and channels and how aligned the brand is with current trends in terms of liquid profile, calories and carbs.

米歇爾在這裡。感謝你的提問。讓我們從問題 1 的兩個部分開始，即品牌和當前數據，這些數據來自 Circana 或他們自己行業中的其他一些來源。總的來說，正如您所描述的那樣，我們看到 Michelob ULTRA 的強勁勢頭。我們都知道該品牌的相關性以及多年來品牌的成長程度。但此外，我們都意識到該品牌在地理和通路方面的成長空間，以及該品牌在液體成分、卡路里和碳水化合物方面與當前趨勢的一致性。

Through the year, on our own data, we see a lot of expansion in number of POCs, TAPs and also rate of sales for Michelob ULTRA in down trade. So our own numbers, they talk to the sources that are external data that you are mentioning. And when you combine this with the off-trade data, which is also available, you can see that Ultra in the last few weeks reached an all-time high share for the brand and has momentum that you see on Circana. building over the last few weeks. So a lot to come in the year because actually, to be quite honest, this summer is going to be the strongest activation of Michelob ULTRA as we get through Olympics and then all the holidays that we're going to have during the summer, the Team USA and the partnership with the Olympics Committee in the U.S. So excited about what we have ahead of first with ULTRA.

在這一年中，根據我們自己的數據，我們看到 POC、TAP 的數量以及 Michelob ULTRA 在下游貿易中的銷售率大幅增加。所以我們自己的數字，他們與你提到的外部資料來源對話。當您將其與相同可用的場外數據結合時，您可以看到 Ultra 在過去幾週內達到了該品牌歷史最高的份額，並且具有您在 Circana 上看到的勢頭。過去幾週的建設。今年將會有許多事情發生，因為實際上，說實話，今年夏天將是米獅龍 ULTRA 最強勁的激活，因為我們經歷了奧運會，然後是我們在夏天將要度過的所有假期，美國隊以及與美國奧委會的合作關係讓我們對ULTRA 的首次成果感到非常興奮。

And then Busch Light, as you mentioned, similarly, when you look at the last few weeks, all-time high share for the brand as well, very good momentum, plenty of opportunities to continue to expand nationally because the volume today is very concentrated in a few regions. And the brand is also very well positioned with a lot of momentum with consumers and consumer needs as of now. You go from there. We're now not talking Kona, [Estrella] , brands that are firing and growing very well as well. So our entire strategy in the U.S. is about portfolio rebalance, and those are the brands that are making a huge contribution for us regaining momentum. And of course, for our portfolio to be more aligned with all trends that we have all there.

然後，Busch Light，正如您所提到的，同樣，當您查看過去幾週時，該品牌的份額也達到歷史最高水平，勢頭非常好，有很多機會繼續在全國範圍內擴張，因為今天的銷量非常集中在一些地區。到目前為止，該品牌的定位也非常好，在消費者和消費者需求方面擁有很大的動力。你從那裡走。我們現在談論的不是科納 (Kona)、[Estrella]，這些品牌正在蓬勃發展，而且發展也非常好。因此，我們在美國的整個策略都是關於產品組合的重新平衡，這些品牌為我們重獲動力做出了巨大貢獻。當然，為了讓我們的產品組合更符合我們現有的所有趨勢。

When you go to ready-to-drinks, I think, we saw this before, Cutwater, Nutrl. They continue to grow strongly. We are today just 1% on this spirits industry, but we account for roughly 15% of the dollar growth. Both brands are in the top 10 growing spirits brands in the U.S. And both brands are already part of the top ranked brands in dollar sales in the U.S. Cutwater still ahead in terms of position bigger than Nutrl, but Nutrl growing triple digits and quickly moving up. And if you look as a company, as a matter of fact, quarter 1 dollar growth in spirits AB was top 3 in terms of dollar growth, as I said, 2 brands, 15% of the total dollar growth in the U.S., and this contributes, of course, to this portfolio rebalancing.

當你去即飲時，我想，我們以前見過這個，Cutwater，Nutrl。他們繼續強勁增長。目前，我們在烈酒產業中只佔 1%，但我們對美元成長的貢獻率約為 15%。這兩個品牌都名列美國成長最快的烈酒品牌前10 名，而這兩個品牌都已躋身美國美元銷售額排名前列的品牌之列。速度為三位數，並且正在迅速上升。如果你從一家公司的角度來看，事實上，烈酒AB 第一季的美元成長在美元成長方面名列前三，正如我所說，兩個品牌，占美國總美元成長的15%，而這個當然，這有助於投資組合的再平衡。

So all in all, excited with the momentum behind our brands. As you mentioned, they are Michelob ULTRA, Busch Light, Nutrl, Cutwater. All very strong growth with Michelob ULTRA and Busch just hitting all-time high market share for both brands in the last 2 weeks. Thanks for the question.

總而言之，我們對我們品牌背後的動力感到興奮。正如您所提到的，它們是 Michelob ULTRA、Busch Light、Nutrl、Cutwater。 Michelob ULTRA 和 Busch 的成長非常強勁，在過去兩週內，這兩個品牌的市佔率都達到了歷史最高水準。謝謝你的提問。

Our next questions come from the line of Trevor Stirling with Bernstein.

我們的下一個問題來自特雷弗·斯特林和伯恩斯坦的對話。

Two questions from my end. First one, I noticed that you referred to mega brands rather than global brands, Michel in the presentation. Does that reflect a change in thinking in terms of how you classify and how you apply that thinking per market? And second question on Mexico. I think you mentioned mid-single-digit volume growth slightly benefiting from the timing of Easter. Does that imply a market that's really doing very nicely low single-digit volume growth, stable share and solid price mix?

我最後提出兩個問題。第一個，我注意到你在演講中提到了大型品牌而不是全球品牌，米歇爾。這是否反映了您在如何分類以及如何針對每個市場應用這種思維方面的思維變化？第二個問題是關於墨西哥的。我認為您提到了中等個位數的銷售成長，略微受益於復活節的時機。這是否意味著這個市場確實表現得非常好，銷售成長僅為低個位數，份額穩定，價格組合穩定？

Trevor, thanks for the question, Michel here. First point, mega brands, we were together in Mexico, and we talked about our portfolio strategy and the relevance of our brands, both at the global level but also at the local markets. And as we are now reporting quarter 1. We are incorporating the discussions we had with investors and analysts in Mexico. And we thought that would be good to give you some visibility around this portfolio play and the weight of these brands globally. Those brands are like 3 to 5 brands in each market. Part of these are our global brands as well because you have very strong champions, billion-dollar brands. When you combine these mega brands, majority of our volume above 50%, but they are the spearhead of this efficient organic growth that we are pursuing. And as we invest in these brands, as we sharpen that positioning and we align these brands with the key consumer trends, they respond very well.

特雷弗，謝謝你的提問，米歇爾在這裡。首先，大型品牌，我們在墨西哥一起討論了我們的產品組合策略以及我們品牌的相關性，無論是在全球層面還是在當地市場。正如我們現在報告的第一季一樣。我們認為這有助於讓您了解該產品組合以及這些品牌在全球的影響力。這些品牌在每個市場上大約有 3 到 5 個品牌。其中一部分也是我們的全球品牌，因為你們擁有非常強大的冠軍、價值數十億美元的品牌。當你把這些大品牌結合起來時，我們的大部分銷售量都超過 50%，但它們是我們追求的高效有機成長的先鋒。當我們投資這些品牌時，當我們強化定位並使這些品牌與主要消費趨勢保持一致時，它們的反應非常好。

So they are leading the growth with this 6 plus revenue growth in the quarter 1, and we will continue to update you quarter-on-quarter on the development of these brands. Similarly, we will continue to highlight the results of our global brands because they are very important brands in this context. And they are the brands that when you look in a consolidated way, they continue to lead our growth most importantly, one in this quarter in terms of performance.

因此，他們在第一季的營收成長超過 6 倍，在成長中處於領先地位，我們將繼續按季度向您更新這些品牌的發展。同樣，我們將繼續強調我們的全球品牌的成果，因為它們在這方面是非常重要的品牌。當你以綜合的方式看待這些品牌時，最重要的是，他們繼續引領我們的成長，就業績而言，是本季的一個。

Corona, double-digit growth, very strong momentum across many main markets and now combined with the launching and expansion of Corona Cero, we are seeing a lot of good momentum building towards the summer. When you think about Mexico, Mexico continues to be very healthy market. We see volumes in the quarter 1 developed very well. You had this shift in terms of calendar with Easter more into the quarter 1. Nevertheless, even without considering this week of Easter, the overall market was very healthy, and the underlying demand for our brands remain very positive. So we continue to be very positive about Mexico is #2 market for us within the #1 zone in terms of growth and continues to perform very well.

Corona 實現了兩位數的成長，許多主要市場的勢頭非常強勁，現在再加上 Corona Cero 的推出和擴張，我們看到夏季將迎來許多良好的勢頭。當你想到墨西哥時，墨西哥仍然是一個非常健康的市場。我們看到第一季的銷售發展得非常好。就日曆而言，復活節更多地進入第一季。因此，我們仍然非常樂觀地認為墨西哥是我們在成長方面排名第一的第二大市場，並且繼續表現出色。

Our next questions come from the line of Priya Ohri-Gupta with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自 Priya Ohri-Gupta 與巴克萊銀行的對話。

Congratulations on the quarter. I think first off, Fernando, I just wanted to go back to your dynamic capital allocation model. First, with regards to some of issuance and tender activity that you undertook already in this year. Is our working assumption supposed to be that sort of that action should be essentially gross debt neutral? And then following that, as we think about sort of deleveraging as remaining the priority, which you underscored in your prepared remarks, should we be expecting gross debt reduction to continue over the back half of the year given the seasonal cadence of your free cash flow and what we've seen in the last couple of years?

恭喜本季。我想首先，費爾南多，我只想回到你的動態資本配置模型。首先，關於你們今年已經進行的一些發行和招標活動。我們的工作假設是否應該是這種行動基本上應該是總債務中立？接下來，當我們認為去槓桿化仍然是優先事項時（您在準備好的演講中強調了這一點），考慮到自由現金流的季節性節奏，我們是否應該預計今年下半年繼續減少總債務過去幾年我們看到了什麼？

Thanks for your question. Actually, the issuance is probably less to do with the dynamic capital allocation and more to do with managing our debt portfolio. Because as you said, it's gross debt neutral between the debt that we have maturing this year already and the $2.5 billion that we redeemed, it's kind of neutral. And then kind of as the year goes by and we continue to generate cash then the capital allocation is going to come into play. And then want to decide what is the best approach if we continue to further reduce debt, dividends or any other form. But the ongoing assumption and that assumption that we've been working from the last few years is that we should have some debt pay down every given year. So we should be continuing to work along these lines. So no change in here.

謝謝你的提問。事實上，此次發行可能與動態資本配置關係不大，更多的是與管理我們的債務組合有關。因為正如你所說，我們今年已經到期的債務和我們贖回的 25 億美元之間的總債務是中性的，它是中性的。然後隨著時間的流逝，我們繼續產生現金，那麼資本配置就會發揮作用。然後想決定如果我們繼續進一步減少債務、股息或任何其他形式，最好的方法是什麼。但持續的假設以及我們過去幾年一直在努力的假設是，我們應該每年償還一些債務。因此，我們應該繼續沿著這些方向努力。所以這裡沒有改變。

Okay. And just one follow-up on how we should think about share repurchase activity going forward now that you're prior program has been completed, and you did the incremental $200 million directly with the -- with Altria.

好的。既然您先前的計劃已經完成，並且您直接與奧馳亞公司完成了增量 2 億美元，那麼我們應該如何考慮未來的股票回購活動，這只是一個後續行動。

Deleveraging still remains a priority, given how the business performs, we remain confident in our ability to develverage. When you think about capital allocations, the objective is always to maximize value creation to shareholders, and we'll be very disciplined about capital allocation this year. We don't have anything to share different than that right now. But of course, every quarter, every moment, we are looking from these dynamic lenses and we make the decisions accordingly.

去槓桿仍然是優先事項，考慮到業務表現，我們對去槓桿的能力仍然充滿信心。當你考慮資本配置時，目標始終是為股東創造最大價值，今年我們將非常嚴格地進行資本配置。我們現在沒有什麼好分享的。但當然，每季、每時每刻，我們都會從這些動態的角度來觀察，並做出相對應的決定。

Our next questions come from the line of Edward Mundy with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自愛德華·蒙迪和傑弗里斯的對話。

I have 2, please. So on Slide 17, you have a bullet around category participation, which I think was stable last year, but it's up 40% in your markets this year and some of the increases were led by female consumers across Lat Am and Europe, which I think is a heavy grail of beer. So what are you doing differently? What are the early learnings? And do you think this could be sticky? And then second of all, on Slide 24, you grew EBITDA margin 90 bps in the first quarter, but it's still quite a bit below your peak. Could you remind us about how you get to the high watermark? Or how do you think about getting back to the high watermark for margins, in particular, as your mega brand strategy argues for the more efficient growth?

我有2個，拜託。因此，在投影片17 上，您可以看到類別參與度，我認為去年該類別參與度很穩定，但今年在您的市場中成長了40%，其中一些成長是由拉丁美洲和歐洲的女性消費者帶動的，我認為是一大杯啤酒。那麼你做了什麼不同的事情呢？早期的教訓是什麼？你認為這會很黏嗎？其次，在投影片 24 上，第一季的 EBITDA 利潤率成長了 90 個基點，但仍遠低於高峰。您能提醒我們一下您是如何達到高水位線的嗎？或者，您如何看待回到高利潤水平，特別是在您的大型品牌策略主張更有效的成長的情況下？

Ed, Michel here. Thanks for the question. I'll take the first part and Fernando can comment a little bit more on the margins. But all 5 levers on how we look at the category and how we think the category can be further developed are very important for us. And of course, participation is positioned as we shared with you always as the first lever because it is very important to keep an eye on participation and making sure that as we work with our brands, as we work with innovation that can be either liquids or packaged.

艾德，米歇爾在這裡。謝謝你的提問。我將討論第一部分，費爾南多可以在邊緣發表更多評論。但是，關於我們如何看待該類別以及如何進一步開發該類別的所有 5 個槓桿對我們來說都非常重要。當然，正如我們一直與您分享的那樣，參與被定位為第一個槓桿，因為密切關注參與並確保在我們與我們的品牌合作時，在我們與創新合作時非常重要，這些創新可以是液體或液體包裝好的。

We are always moving towards getting consumers to be in constant touch with our brands and enjoy the category across occasions that are relevant to them. And as we do that more specifically on your question, and beyond beer, smaller beer package and premium propositions such as Corona, they tend to be more co-ad and therefore, they participate in more occasions that are relevant for female consumers. And this is one of the reasons why beer continues to gain share of growth in many, many markets.

我們始終致力於讓消費者與我們的品牌保持持續聯繫，並在與他們相關的場合享受該類別。正如我們更具體地針對你的問題所做的那樣，除了啤酒、較小的啤酒包裝和科羅娜等優質產品之外，他們往往更傾向於共同廣告，因此，他們參與更多與女性消費者相關的場合。這就是啤酒在許多市場中繼續獲得成長份額的原因之一。

So we know that as we offer more premium propositions and this can go from Corona in many markets to Leffe in Europe, and then we go to propositions such as Brutal Fruit in Africa or Cutwater in North America, we see that we gain participation with different cohorts of consumers. And this is all incremental. There is a lot of incrementality when you tap into this pool for our portfolio and for the beer category. We are tracking this now globally for a while, and we'll be able to update you as we are doing now. So 40% of our markets, which is a big amount of markets for the quarter 1 showed positive results in participation. And I think that will continue to drive this and to compete in different occasions and with different consumers, while we will continue to offer strong propositions for our current consumers with our mega brands.

因此，我們知道，當我們提供更多優質產品時，這可以從許多市場的Corona 到歐洲的Leffe，然後我們再到非洲的Brutal Fruit 或北美的Cutwater 等產品，我們看到我們獲得了不同領域的參與。而這一切都是增量的。當您利用這個池子來購買我們的產品組合和啤酒類別時，會有很多增量。我們現在正在全球範圍內追蹤這一情況一段時間，我們將能夠像現在一樣向您通報最新情況。因此，我們 40% 的市場（第一季的大量市場）在參與方面表現出了積極的成果。我認為這將繼續推動這一趨勢，並在不同的場合和不同的消費者競爭，同時我們將繼續透過我們的大型品牌為當前的消費者提供強有力的主張。

And Ed, Fernando here, on your second question, yes, our margins expanded 90 basis points and they grew in 4 out of our 5 operating regions. But indeed kind of if you look over the last several years, EBITDA margin has contracted and it was mostly driven by variable cost escalations, mostly linked to transactional effects and the record high commodity prices, which we've been seeing and it being meaningfully ahead of the local CPI on the markets where we operate.

艾德，費爾南多，關於你的第二個問題，是的，我們的利潤率擴大了 90 個基點，並且在我們 5 個營運地區中的 4 個地區實現了成長。但事實上，如果你回顧過去幾年，EBITDA 利潤率已經收縮，這主要是由可變成本上升推動的，主要與交易影響和創紀錄的大宗商品價格有關，我們已經看到了這一點，而且它正在有意義地領先我們經營所在市場的當地消費者物價指數 (CPI)。

We said before that none of these headwinds are structural and the fundamental drivers of our industry leading margins, they remain intact. We have, I think, quite a few, we have iconic mega brands. We have our unique global footprint. We have the meaningful leadership positions. We have an efficient operating model, and we have the financial discipline and ownership culture. Even though commodity and effects are improving, on historical levels they are still at a quite high level. So that creates further opportunities. But regardless of that, we are controlling what we can control. And a good example of that is if you look, we were quite efficient on our SG&A line, which allow us to look at costs, all the expenses and making sure that we save on the things that don't create value, and we are able to invest and keep investing to sales and market in the [monies] that are consumer facing and that can help drive volume.

我們之前說過，這些不利因素都不是結構性的，它們是我們行業領先利潤率的根本驅動因素，它們仍然完好無損。我認為，我們有很多標誌性的大品牌。我們擁有獨特的全球足跡。我們擁有有意義的領導職位。我們擁有高效率的營運模式，我們擁有財務紀律和所有權文化。儘管商品和效應正在改善，但從歷史水平來看，它們仍然處於相當高的水平。這樣就創造了更多的機會。但無論如何，我們正在控制我們能控制的事情。一個很好的例子是，如果你看一下，我們在 SG&A 方面非常高效，這使我們能夠考慮成本、所有費用，並確保我們節省那些不創造價值的事情，而且我們能夠投資並繼續投資面向消費者並有助於推動銷售的銷售和市場[資金]。

We don't have any outlook for that. We have an outlook for CapEx. So you see that this year outlook for CapEx is smaller. It's a lower CapEx expansion comparing to the outlook for last year. But we are applying the same mindset for all the lines in our P&L to continue to drive efficiency. So definitely room to improve, but we're not giving any outlook on how and when.

我們對此沒有任何前景。我們對資本支出有展望。所以你會看到今年資本支出的前景較小。與去年的前景相比，資本支出擴張較低。但我們對損益表中的所有業務都採用相同的思維方式，以繼續提高效率。因此，絕對有改進的空間，但我們不會對如何以及何時進行任何展望。

Our next questions come from the line of Simon Hales with Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的西蒙‧黑爾斯 (Simon Hales)。

Can I just come back to the U.S., please, Michel and ask you a little bit more about the shelf reset situation, so you're one of your big competitors has talked about this a lot over the last sort of few quarters. Back at the full year, Michel, I think you were indicating around 55% of retailers had announced their resets at that point. Where are we now? What proportion have been executed? And are you still losing, I think you talked about 7% to 8% of facings when those resets are going through now in the spring?

我可以回到美國嗎？回到全年，米歇爾，我認為您表示大約 55% 的零售商當時已宣布重置。我們現在在哪裡？已執行的比例是多少？我想你談到了春季重置時 7% 到 8% 的面臨情況，你還在輸嗎？

Thanks for the question. Situation, I think that just like to piece together the 2 or 3 [last times] that we talk about that. So at the end of the year, 15% of the retailers did their usual fall reset. As we talked about the full year results and connecting it now, we were at 50% announced. Now we pretty much everybody already completed the work. And as we track that, we see that majority of the retailers have already implemented. So it's north of 50%, not everybody yet, but north of 50%. The situation as everybody completed the work changed very little, so actually improved a little bit in our direction. So a smaller share of faces now that we are losing, but it's still in the range to simplify the life to you, 1 out of 20, let's say, 1.5 out of 20. So between 1 and 1.5 out of 20. And as I said before, we have very strong business plans.

謝謝你的提問。情況，我認為就像將我們[上次]談論的 2 或 3 個拼湊起來。因此，到了年底，15% 的零售商按照慣例進行了秋季重置。當我們談論全年業績並將其連接起來時，我們已經宣布了 50%。現在我們幾乎每個人都已經完成了工作。當我們追蹤時，我們發現大多數零售商已經實施了。所以它已經超過了 50%，雖然還不是所有人，但已經超過了 50%。每個人完成工作後的情況變化很小，所以實際上朝著我們的方向有所改善。現在我們正在失去面孔，但仍然在簡化生活的範圍內，20 人中有 1 人，比如說 20 人中的 1.5 人。強大的商業計劃。

These business plans are all negotiated and downloaded to both our wholesaler teams and our retailer partners, huge buying in terms of the activations that we have for the year. Think about how we started with Super Bowl and now as we phase towards the summer, we will have a very strong set of assets that go through NBA, then we have Copa America, then we have Olympics with the Team USA plus the whole NFL season. So we are very confident on the execution. We are very confident on the ability of our teams to bring beer to the floor and to work hard to continue to build this momentum.

這些業務計劃都是經過協商並下載給我們的批發商團隊和零售商合作夥伴的，就我們今年的激活而言，這是巨大的購買。想想我們是如何從超級盃開始的，現在隨著我們進入夏季，我們將擁有一系列非常強大的資產，這些資產將貫穿NBA，然後我們將擁有美洲杯，然後我們將與美國隊一起參加奧運會以及整個NFL 賽季。所以我們對執行非常有信心。我們對我們的團隊將啤酒帶到市場的能力非常有信心，並努力繼續建立這種勢頭。

As I just said before, key brands such as Michelob ULTRA at all-time high now, accelerating momentum, Busch Light, all-time high share, also gaining momentum. And we will continue to work together with the partners to take the best out of the great summer of activations that we have in the remaining part of the year. But all in all, no big change from last time that we talked, just that now we have north of 92% of the retailers already with the work finalizing.

正如我之前所說，米歇爾布 ULTRA 等主要品牌現在處於歷史最高水平，勢頭正在加速，Busch Light 的市場份額達到歷史最高水平，也正在增長勢頭。我們將繼續與合作夥伴合作，充分利用今年剩餘時間的夏季活動。但總而言之，與我們上次討論的情況相比，沒有什麼大的變化，只是現在 92% 以上的零售商已經完成了工作。

Our next questions come from the line of Sanjeet Aujla with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的桑吉特‧奧吉拉 (Sanjeet Aujla)。

Two from me as well, please. Firstly, Fernando, I just love to follow up on the SG&A point that came in just 1.4% well below inflation. So can you just talk a bit about what's happening in the U.S., firstly, where there was a decent decline? I think in the past, you'd alluded to around 1/3 of the EBITDA decline in the U.S. being something you could potentially control. So you're now kind of rightsizing your cost base for the new level of volume in the U.S. And should those benefits continue to accrue through the course of the year. But then also in some of the other emerging markets, particularly EMEA and Middle Americas was well below inflation. So I just love to get a sense of how much of that we can extrapolate going forward?

我也請送兩份。首先，Fernando，我只是喜歡跟進 SG&A 點，該點僅 1.4%，遠低於通貨膨脹率。那麼您能否簡單談談美國正在發生的事情，首先是美國出現了相當大的下降？我想在過去，您曾提到美國 1/3 左右的 EBITDA 下降是您可以控制的。因此，您現在正在調整您的成本基礎，以適應美國新的銷售水平，並且如果這些好處在這一年中繼續增加的話。但其他一些新興市場，特別是歐洲、中東和非洲和中美洲的通膨率也遠低於通膨。所以我只是想知道我們可以在多大程度上推斷未來？

Okay, Sanjeet. So on your first question, probably you answered the question on your own question, is the 1/3, 2/3 kind of, we have the 2/3 that is volume linked, and volume was slightly better. So you get a little bit of operational leverage there. And the 1/3 are the things that we can work. It's part of the pillar #3 of our strategy to optimize our business, and we are doing that. We are kind of looking at the things that we can control. They don't happen overnight. But as we said, this 1/3 is something that within our control. And over time, we can get some of that back.

好的，桑吉特。所以關於你的第一個問題，可能你回答了你自己的問題，是 1/3、2/3 類型，我們有 2/3 是與音量相關的，音量稍微好一些。所以你在那裡可以獲得一點營運槓桿。 1/3 是我們可以做的事情。這是我們優化業務策略的第三支柱的一部分，我們正在這樣做。我們正在關注我們可以控制的事情。它們不會在一夜之間發生。但正如我們所說，這 1/3 是我們可以控制的。隨著時間的推移，我們可以收回其中的一些。

When you look at the global mindset and it's no different than what we're applying to the U.S. is we look for that every day. There is -- there won't be any silver bullet, but we have this ongoing efficiency mindset where we keep looking at all the opportunities, always looking to optimize our business to save what we call nonworking dollars to make sure that we can invest more into sales and marketing and continue to support our brands. But there is no specific outlook or anything like that rather than our ongoing optimization.

當你觀察全球思維時，你會發現它與我們應用於美國的思維沒有什麼不同，我們每天都在尋找這種思維。不會有任何靈丹妙藥，但我們有這種持續的效率心態，我們不斷尋找所有機會，始終尋求優化我們的業務以節省我們所謂的非工作資金，以確保我們可以投資更多投入銷售和營銷並繼續支持我們的品牌。但除了我們正在進行的優化之外，沒有具體的前景或類似的東西。

Great. And just a follow-up for Michel on China. Volumes there, particularly weak. I think you called out weather, but can you just talk a little bit about how the category is developing in light of the macro dynamics there? And give us a perspective of what you're seeing across channels as well, please?

偉大的。這只是米歇爾關於中國的後續行動。成交量尤其疲軟。我想你提到了天氣，但你能簡單談談該類別是如何根據那裡的宏觀動態發展的嗎？請給我們介紹一下您在各個管道中看到的情況，好嗎？

So in terms of China, I think that what we see is maybe stepping back for a second. The long-term fundamental strengths of the category remain in place. We continue to see premiumization as a very long-term trend for China. And as you look at the brands that are growing and where these brands are growing in terms of channels and regions, we don't see a big change.

因此，就中國而言，我認為我們所看到的可能是暫時後退。該類別的長期基本優勢仍然存在。我們仍然認為高端化是中國的一個非常長期的趨勢。當你觀察正在成長的品牌以及這些品牌在通路和地區方面成長的地方時，我們沒有看到很大的變化。

We see that this premiumization should continue to drive an expansion on the EBITDA pool and margins, and this continues to reflect on the numbers as we go through the quarters. And we see, as I think, I mentioned during the quarter 1, the full year results when we talked, that we saw a little bit of impact from different forces on the mainstream volumes. So there's a little bit of weather. The macro is a little bit soft and consumers [cycling] the last year reopening with a more normal Chinese New Year traveling things this year. So I think that long-term fundamentals still in place, industry is premiumizing, premium beers are growing, profit pool should be expanding.

我們認為，這種高端化應該會繼續推動 EBITDA 池和利潤率的擴張，這將繼續反映在我們每季的數據上。正如我所想，我們在第一季提到全年業績時，我們看到了不同力量對主流銷售的一些影響。所以有一點天氣。宏觀經濟情勢有點疲軟，消費者去年重新開放，今年農曆新年出遊變得更加正常。因此，我認為長期基本面仍然存在，產業正在高端化，優質啤酒正在成長，利潤池應該會擴大。

And then because China is very big as a country like continental, you always have different impacts in regions due to weather, due to the economic moves. And what we saw during the beginning of this year, trimester 1 was that weather was impacting a lot. Let's say, east, southeast of the country, while other regions more towards the West, Southwest, had an easier ride in terms of weather as well as different comps from last year. The reopening that we all know was more concentrated and more impactful on the Eastern provinces of China. But long term, we believe that the fundamentals remain in place. Premiumization remains a very strong force and whatever weather related is more transitory that is something that we should be watching for the remaining of the year.

然後，因為中國像大陸一樣幅員遼闊，所以由於天氣、經濟變動，總是會對地區產生不同的影響。我們在今年年初第一季看到天氣影響很大。比方說，該國東部、東南部，而其他更偏向西部、西南部的地區，在天氣方面以及與去年不同的比較方面都比較容易。眾所周知，此次重新開放對中國東部省份的影響更為集中、影響更大。但從長遠來看，我們相信基本面仍然存在。高端化仍然是一股非常強大的力量，無論與天氣有關的情況都比較短暫，這是我們今年剩餘時間應該關注的事情。

Our next questions come from the line of Laurence Whyatt with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的勞倫斯·懷亞特。

A couple for me. Just following up on the China question. Just wondering if you had seen any impact from the flooding that we saw in Guangdong recently, whether that's -- how important that region is to you in China and what the impact on consumers was there.

給我一對。只是跟進中國問題。只是想知道您是否看到了我們最近在廣東看到的洪水的任何影響，該地區對中國的您有多重要以及對消費者的影響是什麼。

And secondly, Fernando, on the -- your balance sheet is we think is likely to get -- to populate the sort of important 3x net to EBITDA number at the end of this year. But of course, Altria has started selling some of its stock. They've got a lockup towards end of the year, but just sort of the potential of Altria selling some more stock, does that impact your desire to embark on any additional buybacks that change your thinking around how you might return cash to shareholders later in the year.

其次，費爾南多，我們認為您的資產負債表可能會在今年年底填入 EBITDA 淨值的 3 倍。當然，奧馳亞已經開始賣出部分股票。他們在年底前有鎖定期，但奧馳亞有可能出售更多股票，這是否會影響您進行任何額外回購的願望，從而改變您稍後如何向股東返還現金的想法。

Fernando here. Let me take your question first, and then I'll hand over to Michel. So Altria, I don't know what will be the intentions or not. There's some question for you to ask them, but I don't have any views on that. But on our side, we remain disciplined in our capital allocation decisions. And the objectives that we have are always to maximize value creating to shareholders. So we always analyze kind of different opportunities when and if they arise. But bear in mind that we remain disciplined and value creation is the driver that we'll be looking at more than anything else. Michel?

費爾南多在這裡。讓我先回答你的問題，然後我將把問題交給米歇爾。所以奧馳亞，我不知道他的意圖是什麼。有些問題你可以問他們，但我對此沒有任何看法。但就我們而言，我們在資本配置決策中仍然遵守紀律。我們的目標始終是為股東創造最大價值。因此，我們總是在機會出現時分析不同的機會。但請記住，我們仍然遵守紀律，價值創造是我們最重視的驅動力。米歇爾？

I think you're just complementing what we were talking about on the previous question. South China, part of this Eastern, Southeast regions in China are very important for all categories and consumer goods. Guangdong is a very large province, very important for China, very important for all consumer goods as well as for our own volumes and premium volume. And this is part of this trimester 1 slightly different weather patterns that we are seeing in China, and we are watching and following this very close.

我認為您只是補充了我們在上一個問題中所討論的內容。華南地區是中國東部、東南部地區的一部分，對於所有品類和消費品都非常重要。廣東是一個很大的省份，對中國非常重要，對所有消費品以及我們自己的銷售和溢價都非常重要。這是我們在中國看到的與第一季略有不同的天氣模式的一部分，我們正在密切關注和追蹤。

And again, while the weather, we cannot control. We continue to be focused on the things that we can control which are the investments and execution behind our mega brands in China. We have a very strong calendar as we move towards the summer with our brands that includes Budweiser, activating around the Olympics, Blue Girl, activating, the key events and social occasions in China. And we need now to continue to focus on what we can control, while, of course, watching, monitoring the weather-related events plus the macro economy. And of course, summer is very big and is a defining moment for the industry overall in China.

再說一遍，雖然天氣是我們無法控制的。我們繼續專注於我們可以控制的事情，即我們在中國的大型品牌背後的投資和執行。我們有一個非常強大的日曆，隨著我們的品牌進入夏季，包括百威、圍繞奧運會、藍色女孩、活躍、在中國的重要活動和社交場合。我們現在需要繼續關注我們可以控制的事情，同時當然也要觀察、監控與天氣相關的事件以及宏觀經濟。當然，夏季非常重要，對於中國整個產業來說是一個決定性的時刻。

We know from last year as a matter of fact if you look to the numbers, we had strong industry performance in quarter 1, quarter 2, and we had an industry that was not that strong in the second half of the year. So I would say maybe complementing the information that we shared before that we probably will be looking at 2 different half of the years in China this year, half 1 facing stronger comps and half 2 easier comps versus last year.

事實上，我們從去年就知道，如果你看一下數字，我們在第一季、第二季的產業表現就很強勁，而下半年我們的產業表現就沒那麼強勁了。所以我想說，也許是對我們之前分享的資訊的補充，今年我們可能會在中國關注兩個不同的年份，與去年相比，一半面臨更強的競爭，一半面臨更容易的競爭。

Our next questions come from the line of Sarah Simon with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的莎拉·西蒙。

Yes. I have 2 questions, please. First one was some of your U.S. peers have been a bit more cautious about trading in April. And I wondered if you could give us any comments on how you see April compared to Q1? And then the second one was you referred to investing more in sales and marketing. But can you give us any kind of quantification in terms of whether sales and marketing grew organically ahead of revenues or in line? Or any kind of color on how that reinvestment is going through Q1?

是的。我有 2 個問題，請問。第一個是一些美國同業對四月的交易更加謹慎。我想知道您是否可以就您對 4 月與第一季相比的看法有何評論？第二個問題是您提到在銷售和行銷方面進行更多投資。但您能否提供我們任何形式的量化數據來衡量銷售和行銷是否有機成長超過收入或同步成長？或有任何關於第一季再投資進度的資訊嗎？

Michel here. Thank you for the questions. So first one, if I understood well was North America, U.S. trade comps in April. I think that we -- first of all, we are talking with the numbers of quarter 1 in mind here. And of course, that is, at this point, a lot of public available data of sales to consumer in the U.S. for April. And in a big picture, I think that what we need to see is the incoming trends of last year that was dollar growth with volumes slightly down between 1 and 2. It remains true for the quarter 1 as it remains true for the trimester 1 when we include the April into these numbers.

米歇爾在這裡。謝謝你的提問。所以第一個，如果我理解得很好的話，是北美，美國四月的貿易比較。我認為我們——首先，我們在這裡談論的是第一季的數字。當然，目前有大量美國 4 月消費者銷售的公開數據。從大局來看，我認為我們需要看到的是去年的即將到來的趨勢，即美元增長，交易量在 1 到 2 之間略有下降。我們將四月納入這些數字。

I think that a little bit of the conversation was because Easter shift even in the U.S., not as much as in Mexico, but this is also a relevant occasion in the U.S. the more you go to the southern part of the U.S., the more relevant it is. And we saw that the industry was recovering through the quarter with the end of March being stronger and part of that was because of the Easter shift. And then the beginning of April had the tougher comps because Easter was in the first weeks of April last year. We saw that the weather as we go from winter to spring to summer has a bigger impact, of course, when you change from winter to spring. And it's a little bit of a late spring this year. So the weather was colder in April. So April in terms of volume was slightly worse than the quarter 1. But I think it's too early for us to call any deterioration at this moment because dollar-wise was pretty similar.

我認為有一點談話是因為即使在美國，復活節也會發生變化，但不像墨西哥那麼嚴重，但這在美國也是一個相關的場合，你越去美國南部，就越相關。我們看到該行業整個季度都在復甦，三月底的情況更為強勁，部分原因是復活節的轉變。然後四月初的比賽更加艱難，因為去年復活節是在四月的第一周。我們發現，從冬天到春天再到夏天時，天氣會產生更大的影響，當然，當你從冬天變成春天時。而且今年的春天有點晚了。所以四月的天氣比較冷。因此，4 月的成交量略低於第一季。

And even with April all data sales to consumers, still was on this range of minus 1.5 to 2, right? So I think that's too early to call quarter 2 based on April, while the biggest impact on the pro was really the Easter shift.

即使 4 月向消費者銷售的所有數據，仍然在負 1.5 到 2 的範圍內，對嗎？因此，我認為根據 4 月來判斷第二季度還為時過早，而對職業玩家最大的影響實際上是復活節的轉變。

Thinking for sales and marketing, we don't give any disclosure specifically on that or any guidance for the year. Everything that we do is comprised by this (inaudible) outlook. As Fernando was discussing before, so we've been extremely disciplined on all fixed cost, and we continue to apply this everyday efficiencies mindset, which is very important for us when you think about overhead and overall SG&A. That's why we are growing less than inflation. While in the sales and marketing, we want to continue to drive growth by investing in our mega brands and in our mega platforms.

考慮到銷售和行銷，我們沒有專門對此進行任何披露，也沒有對今年提供任何指導。我們所做的一切都是由這種（聽不清楚）的前景所組成的。正如費爾南多之前討論的那樣，我們對所有固定成本都非常嚴格，並且我們繼續應用這種日常效率思維方式，當您考慮管理費用和整體銷售管理費用時，這對我們非常重要。這就是為什麼我們的成長低於通貨膨脹。在銷售和行銷方面，我們希望透過投資我們的大型品牌和大型平台來繼續推動成長。

So we have very strong activation opportunities throughout the year that will really, really make a difference for the category, and our brands will have the right investments so they can capitalize on all these investments that we have. This investment, of course, is becoming ever more efficient because as we have the right portfolio, the right brands invest behind. These brands have scale, and we can seize better performance from these investments. And because we are now very digital, both in the sales to retailers, but in sales to consumers as well, we know that data is the place to mine for efficiencies. So we've been investing more, but in a more efficient way for growth while we continue to be extremely disciplined for all the fixed costs and the financial discipline is part of our company that we've been driving stronger, stronger every day. So thanks for the question.

因此，我們全年都有非常強大的激活機會，這將真正對該類別產生影響，我們的品牌將擁有正確的投資，以便他們可以利用我們擁有的所有這些投資。當然，這種投資正變得越來越高效，因為當我們擁有正確的產品組合時，就會有正確的品牌進行投資。這些品牌有規模，我們可以從這些投資中獲得更好的績效。而且因為我們現在非常數位化，無論是在向零售商的銷售方面，還是在向消費者的銷售方面，我們知道數據是挖掘效率的地方。因此，我們一直在增加投資，但以更有效的方式實現成長，同時我們繼續嚴格遵守所有固定成本，財務紀律是我們公司的一部分，我們每天都在推動公司變得越來越強大。謝謝你的提問。

Our final questions will come from the line of Brett Cooper with Consumer Edge.

我們的最後一個問題將來自 Consumer Edge 的 Brett Cooper。

A question and a follow-up on your DTC platforms, and I think it dovetails with what you were just talking about. But in the press release, you quoted 18 million e-commerce orders globally, 16 million of those are in Brazil. So in the other 20 markets, you have 2 million orders. So can you just talk about the opportunity and headwinds to develop DTC in the non-Brazil markets? And then the follow-up is, is there some way to frame what the minimal level of development that you need in direct-to-consumer in the market to extract the data necessary to generate the majority of the benefits on optimizing your decisions in developing the category in your business or maybe how many of those 20 markets you've gotten to that level of scale?

關於您的 DTC 平台的一個問題和後續行動，我認為這與您剛才所說的相符。但在新聞稿中，您引用了全球 1800 萬個電子商務訂單，其中 1,600 萬個來自巴西。所以在其他 20 個市場，你有 200 萬筆訂單。那麼您能否談談在非巴西市場開發 DTC 的機會和阻力？接下來的問題是，是否有某種方法可以確定您在市場上直接面向消費者所需的最低開發水平，以提取必要的數據，從而產生優化開發決策的大部分收益。屬於哪個類別，或者您在這20 個市場中有多少已經達到了這樣的規模水準？

Michel here. Thanks for the question. I will address both of the questions. I think that they are very interesting questions, and they give a good opportunity for us to talk about this direct-to-consumer and the link to insights. So as many of our initiatives, given the global footprint that we have, we tend to get our ideas around what we want to develop, choose, select one market, implement the programs, in this case, product, which is our direct-to-consumer product that's called Ze Delivery in Brazil. And of course, for a period of time, we need to perfect the model and build the scale. So today, Ze Delivery has a meaningful scale in Brazil, both in number of orders as you were talking. But in terms of number of consumers reach and (inaudible) percentage of our volume that goes through direct to consumers in Brazil.

米歇爾在這裡。謝謝你的提問。我將回答這兩個問題。我認為它們是非常有趣的問題，它們為我們提供了一個很好的機會來討論這種直接面向消費者的方式以及與見解的連結。因此，考慮到我們的全球足跡，我們的許多舉措都傾向於圍繞我們想要開發的內容、選擇、選擇一個市場、實施計劃（在本例中為產品）來製定我們的想法，這是我們的直接目標-在巴西稱為 Ze Delivery 的消費產品。當然，在一段時間內，我們需要完善模型，建立規模。因此，今天，Ze Delivery 在巴西擁有相當大的規模，無論是訂單數量還是您所說的。但就消費者數量以及直接到達巴西消費者的（聽不清楚）銷售百分比而言。

When you think about that, to give an example that links to your second question, if you think about the way that we do consumer insights and consumer groups to validate an idea, you, of course, can fit 20, 30 people on the consumer group. And if you do 10 of these groups, we're going to cover 250 to 300 people. Today, with Ze Delivery, we validate ideas with 10,000 surveys with our consumers in a matter of minutes or we can digitally test ideas on a database of millions of consumers and understand real behavior like purchase behavior rather than just declared behavior.

當你想到這一點時，舉一個與你的第二個問題相關的例子，如果你考慮我們進行消費者洞察和消費者群體來驗證一個想法的方式，你當然可以在消費者中容納20 到30人團體。如果您開展 10 個這樣的小組，我們將涵蓋 250 到 300 人。如今，借助Ze Delivery，我們可以在幾分鐘內對消費者進行10,000 項調查來驗證想法，或者我們可以在數百萬消費者的資料庫中以數位方式測試想法，並了解購買行為等真實行為，而不僅僅是聲明的行為。

So when you get the scale that we have with Ze Delivery in Brazil today, the insights that we have, the ability to test ideas, the ability to survey behavior response to what we are doing, the innovation, promotions, is disproportion -- it is disproportionately bigger. And then now we are scaling the product.

因此，當你看到我們今天在巴西的Ze Delivery 所擁有的規模時，我們擁有的洞察力、測試想法的能力、調查對我們正在做的事情的行為反應的能力、創新、促銷，是不成比例的——它更大得不成比例。現在我們正在擴展產品。

So the tech product that we developed we are scaling in 20 new countries under the brand TaDa. And the reason why we are doing TaDa we discussed before is because TaDa brings for the Hispanic language countries and the English speaking countries an easier concept and a very broad concept that brings some magic to the category and to these important meaningful moments that you are at home because the value proposition of Ze, TaDa is beer called at home in 30 minutes. So the magic of doing this. And we are scaling the platform, of course, as any other product that is adoption.

因此，我們開發的科技產品以 TaDa 品牌擴展到 20 個新國家。我們之前討論過的我們之所以要做TaDa，是因為TaDa為西班牙語國家和英語國家帶來了一個更簡單的概念和一個非常廣泛的概念，為這個類別以及你所處的這些重要的有意義的時刻帶來了一些魔力。所以這樣做的魔力在於。當然，我們正在擴展該平台，就像任何其他正在採用的產品一樣。

Some countries are moving very quick in terms of adoption. An example we saw in the market in Mexico but many other countries are following a similar adoption curve as we had for Ze in Brazil. The difference is that Ze is in the market in Brazil for over 2 years now. While TaDa is completing first anniversary in most of the markets that we have. In terms of the scale, let's say that once you get above 1% of your sales, you already have meaningful data that you can use as long as you have all the intelligence behind and the product is well delivered for that, which, in our case, the products (inaudible) . And in Brazil, we are a multiple of this scale.

有些國家在採用方面進展非常迅速。我們在墨西哥市場看到了一個例子，但許多其他國家也遵循與我們在巴西的 Ze 類似的採用曲線。不同的是，Ze 現已進入巴西市場兩年多了。 TaDa 在我們擁有的大部分市場上都已度過一周年紀念日。就規模而言，假設一旦您的銷售額超過 1%，您就已經擁有了可以使用的有意義的數據，只要您擁有背後的所有情報並且產品為此得到了很好的交付，這在我們的案例，產品（聽不清楚）。在巴西，我們的規模就是這個規模的倍數。

So the data is already very good, and we are using to develop brands and to develop special occasions in Brazil, so we can already activate big amount of consumers to develop occasions. And in the other countries, we are expanding reach, building scale, but the data is already confirming to be very good data for us to work in all markets. So thank you for the question, and thank you for the opportunity.

所以這個數據已經很好了，我們在巴西用它來開髮品牌和開發特殊場合，所以我們已經可以啟動大量的消費者來開發場合。在其他國家，我們正在擴大覆蓋範圍，建立規模，但數據已證實對於我們在所有市場開展工作來說是非常好的數據。謝謝你提出這個問題，也謝謝你給我這個機會。

These were the final questions. If your questions have not been answered, please feel free to contact the Investor Relations team. I will now turn the floor back over to Mr. Michel Doukeris for closing remarks.

這是最後的問題。如果您的問題尚未得到解答，請隨時聯繫投資者關係團隊。現在我將請米歇爾·杜克里斯先生致閉幕詞。

So thank you, everyone. Thanks for your time today for the ongoing partnership and support for our business. Stay safe and well, and we talk soon. Thank you.

謝謝大家。感謝您今天抽出寶貴時間對我們業務的持續合作和支持。保持安全和健康，我們很快就會談。謝謝。

Thank you. This concludes today's earnings conference call and webcast. Please disconnect your lines, and have a wonderful day.

謝謝。今天的收益電話會議和網路廣播到此結束。請斷開您的線路，祝您有美好的一天。