Mahou San Miguel Announces 1.1% Profit Increase in 2018 Financial Results

Mahou San Miguel, the leading beer-maker in Spain, released its financial results from 2018 last week, which were promising.

The company posted its highest-ever turnover as well as a pre-tax profit increase of 1.1 percent.

The full release from the brewery is below.

MADRID — Mahou San Miguel, a 100 percent Spanish family-owned company, consolidated its leadership in our country’s beer sector in 2018 with an increase in turnover, which rose for the fifth consecutive year to €1.2986 billion, 2.9 percent more than in 2017 and the highest in its history. Furthermore, both its EBITDA and pre-tax profits increased by 1.1 percent to €260.3 million and €170.4 million respectively.

In addition, the beer maker very significantly increased its investment, which grew by 31.5 percent, to €119.8 million, reflecting the its shareholders’ firm commitment to the future of the company. This investment was dedicated mainly to updating and improving its production centres, both inside and outside Spain, as well as to projects aimed at improving efficiency, productivity, sustainability and, ultimately, the company’s competitiveness. Its total sales also set new records, reaching 18.3 million hectolitres, an increase of 10.2 percent, of which 14.1 came from beer and 4.2 from flavored and functional mineral water.

Mahou San Miguel created direct employment in 11 autonomous communities and continued to support the local business fabric, promoting localism and sustainability through its 11 breweries, four water springs and associated bottling plants, corporate headquarters, and 16 branches and sales offices in Spain. In 2018, it hired 230 employees, 115 of them under the age of 30, demonstrating its commitment to the creation of stable, quality jobs, with a special focus on youth employment.

2018 Results

Increase vs. 2017

Turnover

€1.2986 billion

2.9 percent

EBITDA

€260.3 billion

1.1 percent

Pre-tax Profit

€170.4 million

1.1 percent

Investment

€119.8 million

31.5 percent

Sales Volume

18.3 million hectolitres

10.2 percent

Alberto Rodríguez-Toquero, CEO of Mahou San Miguel, during presentation of the company’s results emphasized that “2018 has been a great year in which we have grown and demonstrated our capacity to anticipate market needs, leading and driving the category through innovation, premiumization and generation of new experiences. Our results confirm that we are doing things right, in a year in which our profits have grown once again and in which we strengthened investment to promote the development of our business. Without a doubt, the challenges of this year have enabled us to continue evolving and laying the groundwork for an exciting future.”

Innovation and Premiumisation as the Engine of Growth

Innovation was, for another year, key in the positive results of Mahou San Miguel, which dedicated €25.4 million to this strategic and transversal driver of growth, 23% more than in 2017, reflected in this year’s sales. Specifically, last year 4.8% of its total net sales came from innovation, compared to 3.8 percent in 2017. The company hopes that this, along with premiumisation, comes to represent 10% in 2020.

Along these lines, as a leading company, Mahou San Miguel continued blazing trails in the sector, making the beer category in Spain evolve and launching three new products to the market (Mahou Maestra Dunkel, San Miguel Radler, Mahou Cinco Estrellas Radler), as well as four new product lines: Las Numeradas de Cervezas Alhambra, aged in sherry casks (Amontillado, Palo Cortado, Pedro Ximénez); Solán de Cabras functional beverages (Repair, Defence); La Salve beers with history; and Nómada Brewing winter beers. Moreover, it added the mineral water brand Fonteide to its portfolio, as a result of acquiring 75.15% of the Canary Islands company Aguas del Valle de la Orotava.

The company also demonstrated its capacity to generate innovative experiences around its products. In 2018 it started the first Brewhub in Spain, a pioneering project that represents an investment of €11 million and strengthens its positioning as the most advanced Spanish beer company in promoting the craft segment, achieved thanks to its collaborations with the North American Founders Brewing and Avery Brewing and the Spanish Nómada Brewing craft brewers. Another example is the opening of La Cervecista, a store specialising in beer created to transform the buying experience of this product, promote premiumisation and deliver added value to off- and on-trade customers.

Commitment to the Environment and Sustainability

Mahou San Miguel contributed €1.3668 million to the national economy, 2,4% more than in 2017, promoting the development of the communities where it operates. Of this figure, €245.9 million were dedicated to its employees, 807.5 to purchases from suppliers, and 313.5 to payments to public administrations. In addition, it dedicated €32.8 million to promoting culture and sport, and over €73 million to supporting the Spanish on-trade sector as a whole.

In 2018, the company launched its “Somos 2020” Strategic Sustainability Framework, a roadmap developed with its main stakeholders through which it plans to invest €30 million with the goal of becoming an active leader in sustainability in the consumer products sector.

About Mahou San Miguel

Mahou San Miguel is a 100 percent Spanish, family-owned company and Spain’s leading beer maker, with a production share of 34 percent. It has 11 beer breweries–eight in Spain, one in India and two in the USA–four water springs and associated bottling plants, and a team of approximately 3,200 employees. It has 129 years of history, which started with the founding of Mahou in 1890 and continued with the acquisition of San Miguel in 2000, the addition of the Canary Islands brand Reina in 2004, Cervezas Alhambra in 2007, and Solán de Cabras in 2011. It has an extensive portfolio of Spanish beers, with pioneering products in their categories, and a wide range of international beers and water brands. Internationalisation is one of the strategic lines for its development, and it is present in over 70 countries