Transcript: Ambev Q2 2026 Earnings Conference Call

Ambev (NYSE: ABEV ) released second-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Thursday. Read the complete transcript below. This transcript is brought to you APIs. For real-time access to our entire catalog, please visit for a consultation.

A. reported a 6% increase in net revenue and a 9% growth in normalized EBITDA for Q2 2026, driven by disciplined revenue management and resource allocation. The company's three-pillar growth strategy focuses on leading and growing the category, digitizing and monetizing the ecosystem, and optimizing the business. This strategy supported share gains and volume growth, particularly in premium and no-alcohol segments.

Ambev's digital platform, BEES, has been a key factor in managing portfolio complexity and improving operational efficiencies, contributing to a 60% growth in marketplace GMV. In Brazil, beer volumes grew by 5%, supported by market share gains and favorable industry conditions, despite adverse weather impacting sales. Q2 financial performance was strong, with normalized EPS growing 24% and operating cash flow reaching 8 billion reais, one of the highest first-half levels for the company. Management highlighted the impact of the FIFA World Cup as a successful platform for brand activation across multiple markets, contributing to industry volume growth.

Ambev plans continued investments behind brand growth while maintaining profitability, supported by solid cash generation and an active share buyback program. The company expressed confidence in its strategy and the resilience of the beer category, despite economic challenges and high household debt levels in key markets. Full Transcript OPERATOR (Operator) Good afternoon and thank you for waiting. We would like to welcome everyone to Ambev's 2026 second-quarter conference call.

Today with us we have Mr. Carlos Lisboa, Ambev CEO, and Mr. Guillermi Fleuri, CFO and Investor Relations Officer. br as well as through the webcast link.

We would like to inform you that this event is being recorded and all participants will be in listen-only mode during the company's presentation. After Ambev's remarks are completed, there will be a Q&A session, during which we kindly ask that each participating sell-side analyst ask one question. Before proceeding, let me mention that forward-looking statements are being made under the Safe Harbor of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1996. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs and assumptions of Ambev's management and on information currently available to the company.

They involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions because they relate to future events and therefore depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. Investors should understand that general economic conditions, industry conditions, and other operating factors could also affect the future results of Ambev and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements.

I would also like to remind everyone that, as usual, the percentage changes that will be discussed during today's call are both organic and normalized in nature, and unless otherwise stated, percentage changes refer to comparison with 2025 second-quarter results. Normalized figures refer to performance measures before exceptional items, which are either income or expenses that do not occur regularly as part of Ambev's normal activities. As normalized figures are non-GAAP measures, the company discloses the consolidated profit, operating profit, and EBITDA on a fully reported basis in the earnings release. Now I will turn the conference over to Mr.

Carlos Lisboa. Mr. Lisboa, you may begin your conference. Carlos Eduardo Lisboa, CEO AMBEV Good afternoon everyone and thank you for Joining our second quarter earnings call.

Across our footprint, football is part of our culture, one of the strongest passion points that bring people together, and beer has a unique role in creating such special moments. I want to congratulate all the national teams from our markets that represented their countries in the FIFA World Cup. I also want to recognize our teams for their outstanding execution. Across Ambev's footprint, moments like these are also where our company stands out.

The World Cup is one of the toughest execution tests in our industry. The challenge goes beyond activating a campaign. It is about turning a tournament into a semester-long platform, activating a portfolio rather than a single brand, and connecting consumers and customers across countries, channels, and millions of points of sale while building engagement that lasts beyond the final whistle. Across our markets, our brands were among those most associated with the event.

We did not just take part in the World Cup, we helped shape the category through it. While the World Cup has come to an end, our own game has only reached half time. Ambev's performance continued to strengthen in the second quarter with its quality and shape improving versus Q1. 4% year over year with beer up mid single digits.

Disciplined revenue management and resource allocation supported net revenue growth of 6% and normalized EBITDA growth of 9% even as we stepped up investment behind our brands. As a highlight, our normalized EPS grew 24%. Looking at the movie rather than the picture, the first half provides a broader view. 7% with beer volumes growing well ahead of the total.

Net revenue grew 7%. 3 times operational leverage. And normalized EPS also grew 10%. Operating cash flow reached 8 billion reais, one of Ambev's highest first half levels.

As we enter the second half, we are building a business with stronger foundations and designed to deliver compound profitable growth over time. Behind this progress is our three pillar growth strategy. Starting with Pillar 1, lead and grow the category, this quarter we advanced on both dimensions. On lead, we strengthened both brand equity and market share across our five largest markets.

On growth, share gains and improving industry conditions supported beer volume growth in markets that represent over 80% of our volumes. Mainstream continued to improve sequentially with volumes only slightly below last year. We continue to lead the high growth segments with a broad and complementary portfolio. Premium remained a key growth engine, growing nearly 20%.

Balanced choices grew more than 60%. No-alcohol beer grew around 20%, and flavored beer and RTDs maintained momentum. Michelob Ultra shows how we scale a relevant consumer proposition across markets. It more than tripled in Brazil and Argentina during the quarter, grew over 50% across our footprint, and is now present in nearly all our markets, connecting with consumers seeking a more active and balanced lifestyle.

This takes us to Pillar 2, digitize and monetize our ecosystem. Our digital ecosystem has become a key lever for category development in an increasingly dynamic environment. A broader portfolio creates greater complexity. BEES enables us to manage that complexity with greater precision, strengthening the core while accelerating the new engines of category growth.

It is not just a technical backbone, but an execution powerhouse that creates efficiencies and improves how we operate every day. We read demand faster and more accurately, help customers increase sellout through better recommendations, and allocate resources to the highest return opportunities. This strengthens our performance while helping our partners grow, as reflected in the continued improvement in our NPS. Ambev BEES marketplace GMV grew around 60% in both the second quarter and the first half.

7 percentage points year over year, reaching 22%. In Brazil, marketplace GMV doubled in the first half, with 3P as the main driver. Under Pillar 3, optimize our business. This pillar creates the flexibility to deliver on both of our capital allocation priorities: investing behind opportunities that drive long-term growth while consistently returning excess cash to shareholders.

In the quarter, we stepped up investments behind our brands while expanding normalized EBITDA margin by 80 basis points. That discipline, together with solid cash generation, allowed us to advance our share buyback program and announce an additional IOC distribution this quarter. Together, the three pillars reinforce one another, creating a flywheel that strengthens the company and supports sustainable, profitable growth. Before moving to our key markets, let me highlight the breadth of our performance in both the second quarter and the first half.

Beer volumes grew or remained broadly stable in seven of our 10 largest markets, while net revenue and EBITDA grew across all business units, showcasing that our progress was not dependent on any single market or growth lever. Starting with Brazil beer, continued commercial momentum supported another solid quarter. The beer industry continued to improve sequentially. According to Nielsen, sellout improved from a high single digit decline in the second half of 2025 and mid single digit decline in the first quarter to a slight decline in Q2.

Nielsen's measurement calendar ended around June 20, capturing only the early part of the World Cup period. Extending the analysis through month-end and across our broader coverage, we estimate that the industry was slightly positive in the quarter. The World Cup created incremental demand across channels and regions. Nevertheless, it was offset by adverse weather conditions.

Average temperatures remained below last year and well below 2024 on a two-year comparison. Our industry modeling indicates that adverse weather accounts for the full industry volume gap versus 2024. Even so, our consumer tracking shows sequential improvement in category equity and participation, reinforcing our confidence in the category's resilience in a dynamic consumer and macroeconomic environment. Through that, our business continued to outperform.

Market share expanded year over year for the fourth consecutive quarter, consolidating the commercial momentum of our business in Brazil. We estimate that our share increased across mainstream, premium, balanced choices and beyond beer. Brand equity continued to improve, while price relativity remained broadly stable versus last year. This quarter marked one full year since we regained leadership in premium, with our share of the segment reaching an all-time high.

Premium grew in the mid-20s and reached approximately 25% of our beer volumes. This performance reflects our new premium architecture, with each brand anchored to distinct consumer needs: Original for authenticity and simplicity, Stella Artois for quiet luxury, Corona for the outdoors and natural living, and Michelob Ultra for an active and balanced lifestyle. The recent announcement of SpartanPro takes this architecture into a new space, combining premium credentials with zero alcohol and 10 grams of protein to expand balanced choices into new occasions. Balanced choices volumes doubled versus last year, while no-alcohol grew in the 30s.

Mainstream was broadly stable, delivering a significant improvement from a mid single digit decline in the first quarter. Together, improving industry conditions and market share progression supported 5% beer volume growth. Serving this portfolio across more than 1 million points of sale requires precision at scale. Our digital ecosystem provides that capability.

Through BEES, we improved assortment, placed the right SKUs in each outlet, and activated our World Cup platform. Nationwide beer distribution grew more than 6%, with returnable bottles up over 4% and premium over 20%. On the consumer side, Zé Delivery GMV grew 16% versus last year, while others more than doubled. On the Brazilian national team match days, Zé Delivery also gives us a real-time view of where the category is heading.

Premium already represents 35% of beer volumes on the platform, while balanced choices reached approximately 7%, nearly twice the weight in Brazil beer. This combination translated into net revenue growth of 9%, EBITDA growth of 13%, and 110 basis points of margin expansion, while we continue to invest behind our brands. In Brazil NAB, sequential improvement, although the job is not done yet. 4% in the quarter.

Around 30% of the decline reflected our decision to phase out volumes from a lower-return channel. Adjusting for this decision, volume performance improved versus the first quarter. By the end of the first half, we had also cycled the toughest comparison base of the year. Market share progressed sequentially, approaching historical levels by the quarter end.

As price relativity pressures eased throughout the period, we continued investing behind our brands to regain momentum while maintaining disciplined revenue management and protecting profitability. As a result, Brazil NAB delivered double digit EBITDA growth with more than 300 basis points of margin expansion in both the quarter and the first half. In LAS, we had two distinct realities within this quarter. In Bolivia, temporary social unrest and road blockades disrupted mobility and logistics for much of the period, leading to a double digit volume decline.

The situation has since normalized and our operations are running normally. Argentina, by contrast, was a highlight. Our beer volumes grew low single digit, lapping growth in the same quarter last year, supported mainly by continued market share momentum and improving industry, and the national team's World Cup performance. Premium grew high single digit, led by Stella Artois and Corona.

Balanced choices reached a mid single digit mix of our beer volumes, supported by the launch of Michelob Ultra and Stella Pure Gold. Mainstream was broadly stable, with Quilmes strengthening brand equity and mainstream share. This is the same category development playbook we are executing in Brazil, scaling premium and developing balanced choices while continuing to strengthen mainstream. In the Dominican Republic, our business delivered mid single digit volume growth in the quarter despite adverse weather conditions in April.

The consumption environment remained constructive, supported by a favorable macro backdrop and healthy price relativity versus other alcoholic beverages. Beer continued to gain share within alcoholic beverages and our volumes grew high single digits. In the first half, premium grew more than 40%, led by Corona and Michelob Ultra, while mainstream grew low single digit, supported by Presidente, and in the first half. Presidente's brand equity remains strong, reinforcing its leadership and cultural connection with Dominican consumers.

Finally, in Canada, we continue to outperform in a dynamic environment. The beer industry declined low single digits as unfavorable weather and softer consumer demand weighed on performance. Trends nevertheless improved from the first quarter, supported by FIFA World Cup occasions. We gained market share in both beer and beyond beer.

Within beer, Michelob Ultra continued to lead the development of balanced choices, while Busch strengthened our mainstream performance. In beyond beer, Mike's and Cold Water remain important growth drivers. As a result, Canada delivered low single digit top line growth alongside low to mid single digit EBITDA growth and margin expansion in both the quarter and the first half. With that, I will now turn it over to Flori for the financial highlights.

Lucas Lira, Chief Financial, Investor Relations & Shared Services Officer Thank you, Lisboa. Hello and good afternoon, everyone. As we close the first half of the year, our financial performance reflects the mindset that has guided us over the past quarters to create value through disciplined resource allocation, focusing on what we can control. 1% growth in normalized net income.

6%. From a cash flow perspective, our first half performance allows us to continue executing our capital allocation priorities of investing in the organic growth of our business while also returning excess cash to shareholders over time. The first half performance was supported by another quarter of consistent execution of our growth strategy. Now let me walk you through the second quarter highlights.

4 billion reais with 80 basis points of margin expansion. This reflects disciplined decisions across costs, expenses and revenue management, allowing us to expand both gross margin and EBITDA margin while stepping up investments behind our brands during the FIFA World Cup. 2% in the period, supported by continued productivity and operational efficiencies across our footprint. 5%.

7% in the quarter, mainly driven by higher sales and marketing expenses reflecting a portion of brand activations during the FIFA World Cup. As we mentioned during our first quarter earnings call, these expenses tend to follow the timing of our mega events calendar, and Q2 reflected that.