AB InBev shares jump after brewer halves its dividend to save R20bn

JOHANNESBURG – Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) yesterday jumped 2.77percent to R876.93 on the JSE after the brewer halved its dividend to save $1.1 billion (R20bn) as the coronavirus (Covid-19) hit its sales with bars shutting and beer drinking curbed.

The brewer revised its final 2019 dividend to 50cents a share, saying it was rescheduling its ordinary and extraordinary shareholders’ meeting to June due to the pandemic.

The group said it had rewarded shareholders with a total dividend of 1.30 (R25.68) per share in 2019, including the 0.80 interim dividend paid in November.

“The dividend will be paid out of the company’s operating results for 2019, increased with the profits carried over, without drawing on any capital reserves,” said the company.

Nesan Nair, a senior portfolio manager at Johannesburg-based Sasfin Securities, said yesterday that the decision to halve the dividend came as little surprise, given the company’s debt burden.