Brazil’s Ambev sees higher costs in 2023 as Q4 net profit rises 36%

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Ambev SA said on Thursday it expects the cost of goods sold per hectoliter at its beer business in Brazil to rise by 6% to 9.9% in 2023, citing inflation levels and higher commodities prices.

Nonetheless, that would represent a slow down from 2022, when the company – a subsidiary of Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev SA – reported a 22% jump in costs on a yearly basis.

The announcement came as the Brazilian brewer reported a fourth quarter net profit of 5.08 billion reais ($980.81 million), up 35.7% from a year earlier and above an estimated 4.22 billion from analysts polled by Refinitiv.

Net revenue rose 3.1% in the period to 22.69 billion reais, driven by a 1.5% increase in volumes sold, according to a securities filing.

Chief executive Jean Jereissati said 2022 overall was a “solid year” for Ambev, mentioning a “double-digit growth both in net revenue and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), boosted by continued momentum in Brazil”.

($1 = 5.1794 reais)

(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Alberto Alerigi Jr.; Editing by Steven Grattan)