Moody's affirms AmBev

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed Companhia de Bebidas das Americas' (AmBev) Baa1 local currency issuer rating, but changed the outlook to positive from stable.

AmBev's foreign currency issuer rating was also affirmed at Baa3, but with a stable outlook, since it is constrained by Brazil's foreign currency ceiling of Baa3, the agency noted.

"The change in outlook to positive primarily reflects: AmBev's ability to exceed our expectation in terms of revenues, EBITDA margin and cash flow to debt metrics for FY 2007, led by solid performance in its core Brazilian beer and soft-drinks market, the company's generally stronger credit metrics than most of its global peers, as well as the Ambev's continued long-term fundamentals and favorable growth prospects due to its market position and the markets it operates in, despite its emerging market focus", said Moody's vice president senior analyst Soummo Mukherjee.

"The positive outlook also is based on our expectation that AmBev will be able to offset higher commodity prices and continue to improve operating and EBITDA margins going forward."

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.