USA: Boston Beer Company reports Q1 financial results

The Boston Beer Company, Inc. on April 21 reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 26, 2022. Key results were:

First quarter depletions decreased 7% and first quarter shipments decreased 25.1% compared to the quarter ended March 27, 2021.

First quarter net revenue of $430.1 million decreased 21.1% compared to the net revenue realized in the first quarter of 2021.

First quarter gross margin of 40.2% was 5.6 percentage points below the 2021 first quarter margin of 45.8%.

First quarter operating expenses of $175.1 million increased 1.2% compared to the first quarter of 2021.

First quarter net loss of $2.0 million or $0.16 per diluted share, decreased from net income of $65.6 million or $5.26 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2021. This change between periods was primarily driven by decreased net revenue and gross margins.

Full-year depletion and shipment growth continues to be estimated at between 4% and 10%.

"Despite our depletions decline, we gained dollar share in measured off-premise channels in the first quarter – the second-largest share gain among brewers," said Chairman and Founder Jim Koch. "The out-of-stock issues that affected our first quarter performance have improved during the quarter, setting us up for additional growth over the rest of the year. As we continue to innovate, today we are announcing the launch of Truly Vodka Seltzer, a new ready-to-drink hard seltzer with 110 calories and 5% ABV, which will begin rolling out later this summer. We believe it will help us compete effectively in the high-end of the hard seltzer category and continue to broaden the reach of the Truly brand."

"While we met our internal targets for depletions, shipments and financials, our first quarter performance suffers by comparison to our exceptional performance in the first quarter of 2021," said Dave Burwick, President and CEO. "We fully expect depletion and shipment volumes to improve, both in absolute terms and against less difficult prior year volume comparisons. We also expect margins to increase from the lower first quarter levels as our supply chain performance slowly improves during the remainder of the year. We continue to believe we have strategies in place to get back to company-wide mid single-digit to double-digit depletions growth driven by broad-based growth across our entire portfolio of brands – especially as consumers drink more 'Beyond Beer' products – and via our strong innovation pipeline."

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