Ambev's profit grows in the 1st tri, but is short of the expected with higher cost

SÃO PAULO (Reuters)-The beverage manufacturer Ambev released 6,2% in the first quarter net income this Tuesday, below expected by analysts, amid a two-digit increase in the cost of products sold and higher expenses Financial. The Latin American subsidiary of Anheuser Busch InBev obtained net income of 2.749 billion reais, below the average estimate of analysts of 2.969 billion reais, according to data from Refinitiv. The company's quarterly net revenues grew 8.6 per Hundred, to 12.64 billion reais, while the volumes rose 6,1%, to 41.3 million hectolitres. As a result, the revenue per hectoliter increased 2,3% in the year-on-year comparison. The cost of products sold (CPV) reached 5.1 billion reais, high 14,6% compared to the same period of 2018, partly due to higher commodity prices and inflationary pressure in Argentina.As financial expenses had an increase of 12.2 Percent in the first quarter, while the overhead, with sales and administrative expenses rose 1,6% in the period. The income before taxes, interest, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) adjusted totaled 5.12 billion reais, high 7% before the first three months of 2018. The Brazilian subsidiary Ambev, in which AB InBev owns a 61,9%, is Present in 16 countries in the Americas, including Argentina and Canada. Ambev's shares in the São Paulo Stock exchange accumulate a high of more than 17% to date this year, partially recovering from the decline of 25% in 2018.