Molson Coors Reports 2018 Full Year and Fourth Quarter Results

Full Year (FY) Worldwide Brand Volume Decreased 1.9%
FY Net Sales Revenue (NSR)/HL Decreased 0.7%, and Excluding New Revenue Recognition Accounting Impacts FY NSR/HL Decreased 0.1%
FY Net Income of $1.1 Billion ($5.15 Per Share) Decreased 28.7%, and
FY Underlying (Non-GAAP) EPS of $5.04 Increased 12.5%
FY Operating Cash Flow of $2.3 Billion, and Underlying (Non-GAAP) Free Cash Flow of $1.4 Billion
Management Reaffirms Previously Updated 2017-2019 $700 Million Cost Savings Guidance and Announces New $450 Million Cost Savings Plan for 2020-2022
Management Remains Committed to Deleverage Target and Reiterates Dividend Expectations
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4th Quarter (4th Q) Worldwide Brand Volume Decreased 1.5%
4th Q NSR/HL Decreased 0.4%, and Excluding New Revenue Recognition Accounting Impacts NSR/HL Decreased 0.3%
4th Q EPS of $0.35, Down from $3.31, and Underlying (Non-GAAP) EPS of $0.84 Increased 35.5%
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February 12, 2019 07:00 AM Eastern Standard Time
DENVER & MONTREAL – Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP; TSX: TPX) today reported results for the 2018 full year and fourth quarter. Molson Coors president and chief executive officer Mark Hunter said:

“We accomplished much in 2018, delivering strong free cash flow and meeting our deleverage commitments, restoring underlying EBITDA growth in the quarter and second half, premiumizing our portfolio across regions including launching Truss our Canadian cannabis beverage JV, scaling volume and profitability in our fast growing International business and continuing to strengthen our European business. Through the year we further scaled our cost saving program which insulated us in part from the effects of weaker industry demand in North America, higher than anticipated input inflationary pressures and challenges associated with the implementation of our U.S. brewery supply chain system.”

Mark continued, “We enter 2019 with a U.S. commercial plan focused on mix and share improvement that is fully resourced and showing early signs of impact against Coors Light, a commercial strategy that is working in Europe and International and continually improving commercial trends in Canada. We are focused on further strong free cash flow delivery and deleverage supported by more than $200 million of cost savings in 2019 and further $450 million across 2020 – 2022. We remain committed to our plan to reinstitute a dividend payout-ratio in the range of 20-25% of annual trailing underlying EBITDA upon achieving 3.75x leverage, which we expect to occur around the middle of 2019.”