Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), the world's largest brewer, has proposed to halve its final dividend, and has postponed its annual shareholder meeting due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois said on Tuesday April 14 that it is proposing to pay a final 2019 dividend of €0.50 per share, down from the €1 it had initially proposed. It paid an interim dividend of €0.80 in November.
The halved final dividend will save the company approximately €1 billion and help to ease the debt burden from its 2016 purchase of SABMiller for approximately $100 billion.
At the end of 2019, AB InBev's net debt stood at $95.5 billion.
Shareholder Meeting Delay
The brewer also said that its annual shareholder meeting will be pushed back from April 29 to June 3, which means that payment of its final dividend will be postponed from early May to June 11.
The company, the largest markets of which are the United States and Brazil, withdrew its 2020 outlook guidance three weeks ago.
News by Reuters, edited by Hospitality Ireland. Click subscribe to sign up for the Hospitality Ireland print edition.
