Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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Operator: Our next question comes from Brett Cooper from Consumer Edge Research. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Brett Cooper: Thanks. Good morning. Gavin, there’s been a lot talked about with respect to the soft beer industry. But one thing I would like to get your perspective on is, if you step back and not asking about first quarter or April, but over the last 12 months or whatever, there’s been a narrowing in the gap of performance between spirits and beer in the US. And I would love to hear your perspective on if the beer industry is not a right with respect to some of the most flavors to be more competitive for share through in the overall alcohol space or if you think that this is somewhat transitory? Thanks.

Gavin Hattersley: Thanks, Brett. Look, I think the work that we’ve done as a category is having more of a positive impact than a transitory one. So I would suggest that the work that we’ve done around flavors, non-alcohol beers, the moderate impact of the — all of these things are positive for the overall beer industry, and I don’t believe that those are transitory. I will move into flavors more broadly as opposed to Seltzer specifically, it’s been very positive for us as we’ve driven into the consumer trend of wanting flavor and moving around within flavor more actively than perhaps has happened in the past, whether that’s moving from brands in the Seltzer space to brands in the flavor space, which has really benefited simply.

And then obviously, our foray into Happy Thursday opens up a very new and exciting opportunity for us. And I think you see this more broadly across the beer industry. So I don’t see those as transitory. I see that as more permanent. Thanks, Brett.

Operator: Our next question comes from Gerald Pascarelli from Wedbush Securities. Your line is now open. Please go ahead.

Gerald Pascarelli: Great. Thanks very much. Gavin, I had a follow-up on your above premium strategy and specifically within spirits. You acquired Blue Run last year, obviously, a very premium, but very small brand. So, given your goal of driving an increased contribution to above premium and understanding that a big part of that will, in fact, come from beyond beer, would just love to get your thoughts on whether you feel incremental M&A would be necessary to hit your targets and if increasing your exposure to Spirit for American Whiskey fits into that strategy? Thank you.

Gavin Hattersley: Yes. Thanks, Gerald. Look, I think our — move into beyond beer is much broader than spirits, right? And actually, I would say the bigger move that we’ve made is into both flavor with brands like Simply and Happy Thursday, coupled with our move into the Non-Alc space and specifically with ZOA, so the sort of Non-Alc non-beer space, which is our – I certainly believe that we need to have more than just ZOA in the non-alc space, and certainly, that can come from internal development as opposed to buy. I think from a spirits point of view, we did launch our own spirits, our own spirits brands. And we did, as you say, by a stake in Blue Run. We’ve been at this is for a couple of years, and our competitors have been at this for hundreds of years. So I’m pleased with our progress, and we’ve got more work to do to understand this space and be more effective and more effective in it.

Operator: That concludes the Q&A portion of today’s call. I will now hand back over to Greg Tierney for any closing remarks.

Gavin Hattersley: Thank you, operator. Greg?

Greg Tierney: All right. Thank you, operator. If you do really appreciate you joining us today. If you do have any additional questions, please follow up with me and Tracey and the IR team. And with that, we thank everybody for participating in today’s call. Have a great day.

Operator: That concludes today’s call. You may now disconnect your lines.

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