Beer Fans Move To Both Cheaper And More Expensive Brands At Molson Coors

On August 2, Molson Coors announced its second quarter earnings and during a call with shareholders and analysts, CEO Gavin Hattersley explained that the company was seeing a curious split emerge among its customers as inflation hit their wallets.

With inflation raging some beer drinkers were trading down to cheaper brands, while others are still shelling out for pricier six-packs.

Despite a soft overall beverage industry, global inflationary pressures and a strike at its Montreal-area brewery, Hattersley kept his messaging positive, stressing that the company had grown its premium brands for the fifth consecutive quarter while at the same time increasing sales of its sub-premium beers, a sector that the company had recently trimmed but not abandoned entirely.

According to CNBC, “Hattersley credited strong sales growth for pricier drinks like Blue Moon and Peroni beer, as well as strengthening demand for cheaper beers like Miller High Life and Keystone Light.”

“What some would regard as an Achilles heel, in the past, has positioned us perfectly at the moment,” Hattersley said. “Some of our competitors only operate in the premium space, which is obviously not a place I’d like to be as we’re heading into what’s clearly going to be tough times.”

In the US, Coors Light and Miller Lite combined in the second quarter to turn in their best quarterly performance in nearly seven years. Coors Banquet, meanwhile, posted double-digit sales growth.

Hattersley told Beer & Beyond that company’s 2Q performance which grew dollar share in the US, grew volume and dollar share in Canada (with the exception of Quebec), and ranked as the largest share-gainer in the UK was not a coincidence, rather “the rewards of our continued to commitment to and execution of” its revitalization plan.

“While the global macroeconomic environment remains a challenge,” Hattersley cautioned Molson Coors is “well-positioned … to deliver on our full-year guidance.”

“Our plan is working,” he added.

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(All image credits: Molson Coors)