According to the financial report, revenue per hl grew by 4.9%, driven by revenue management initiatives and premium brand performance.
Jason Warner, president North Europe, AB InBev said: “Our UK business has had a strong start to the year, momentum from last year’s double digit growth continues with organic growth across our portfolio of leading premium beers and ciders.
“In terms of trends shaping the market, premiumisation continues to drive growth in value and volume the category – in the off-trade, premium lager is growing by around 5% in value year-on-year and we account for approximately 80% of segment.
“Our premium, global brands continue to grow at scale, with Stella Artois off to a strong start this year. So far this year, Stella Artois has been the number one driver of value sales growth in the off-trade.”
Budweiser revenues declined by 1.3%, driven by a decline in the US, while Stella Artois revenues grew by 12.3% and Corona grew 25.1% overall.
AB InBev’s non-beer volumes also declined by 6.9%, while its own beer volumes grew by 0.5% with Mexico, Colombia and Argentina performing well.
Warner added: “Turning to our portfolio, in its first year of launch, Bud Light is driving total market volume growth and after introducing the brand in bottle to the UK in February, it remains a significant bet for us.
“In fact, bottles now make up a fifth of total Bud Light value sales. Elsewhere in our no-alcohol and low-alcohol portfolio we are seeing strong momentum…This area will remain a focus for us, as part of our Global Smart Drinking Goals to ensure 20% of our global volumes are no-or-low-alcohol by 2025.”
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