Budweiser maker stumbles, while broader European stock markets rise

The maker of Budweiser stumbled Thursday, as Anheuser-Busch InBev shares dropped as much as 8% after its profit missed analyst expectations.

A-B InBev
ABI,
-5.30%

BUD,
-5.29%
reported a surge in second-quarter profit, after the prior-year period was hit by an impairment charge, and as organic revenue jumped 28%. But it also flagged currency swings and commodity cost rises in Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and it reiterated its 2021 outlook. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization missed expectations once a one-time Brazilian tax credit was excluded, said Citi analyst Simon Hales.

Likewise, Guinness maker Diageo
DGE,
+0.81%
said negative currency effects, including a stronger pound
GBPUSD,
+0.55%,
will hurt net sales and operating profit in fiscal 2022, though its shares rose 2%.

The Stoxx Europe 600
SXXP,
+0.53%
rose 0.5% to 463.89 as a swathe of European companies reported results. Data showing weaker-than-expected growth in U.S. GDP during the second quarter was largely ignored by traders, as one of the reasons for the miss was the inventories numbers.

Of the major regional indexes, the German DAX
DAX,
+0.41%
gained 0.4%, the French CAC 40
PX1,
+0.61%
increased 0.6% and the U.K. FTSE 100
UKX,
+1.02%
increased 1%.

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