Anheuser-Busch InBev Unveils ‘Reignite’ Growth Plan at Capital Markets Day

Key Points

• AB InBev launched its “Reignite” growth phase after completing the first half of its 10-year “Reset” strategy, targeting continued 4%–8% EBITDA growth while increasing investment. Since 2021, EBITDA rose to $22.4 billion, revenue reached about $63 billion and net debt fell below three times EBITDA.
• The company is concentrating resources on roughly 50 “mega brands,” premium beer, nonalcoholic and low-calorie products, and beyond-beer categories such as ready-to-drink cocktails. Beyond-beer revenue is growing 37%, while balanced-choice products represent 11% of the business.
• Digital platforms are central to the plan: direct-to-consumer revenue rose 9% in the first half of 2026, while B2B platform BEES connects more than 4 million retailers across 30 markets and generates about $60 billion in annualized gross merchandise value. In the U.S., ABI is also streamlining its portfolio and focusing on Michelob ULTRA, Busch Light, Cutwater, NÜTRL and BeatBox.

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV NYSE: BUD used its 2026 Capital Markets Day in St. Louis to outline the next phase of its 10-year strategy, emphasizing organic growth, portfolio expansion, digital platforms and increased capital-allocation flexibility.

Chief Executive Officer Michel Doukeris said the brewer has completed the first half of its plan, known internally as “Reset,” and is entering a new phase called “Reignite.” The company reiterated its focus on delivering consistent, compounding EBITDA growth within its 4% to 8% outlook range while increasing investments intended to accelerate growth.

Doukeris said ABI’s EBITDA increased from $19.2 billion in 2021 to $22.4 billion over the last 12 months, while net revenue rose from $54 billion to about $63 billion. Free cash flow reached $13.9 billion, up $4.6 billion since 2021, and the company reduced its net-debt ratio to below three times.

Growth strategy centers on beer, premiumization and digital platforms

Chief Growth Officer Ricardo Tadeu said ABI expects structural beer-volume growth of roughly 0.3% to 0.5% annually across its footprint based on historical market trends. He said emerging and developing markets are a key advantage for ABI, accounting for more than 60% of its volume, and claimed the company captured 98% of beer-volume growth in those regions since 2019.

Tadeu said ABI’s growth model is designed to combine volume growth, net revenue per hectoliter expansion and cash-flow generation rather than pursuing volume “at any cost.” The company is concentrating marketing support behind fewer brands, reducing the number of brands receiving meaningful investment from about 500 to 50.

Chief Marketing Officer Marcel Marcondes said those priority brands, referred to as “mega brands,” now represent 60% of ABI’s volume. The company has also built major marketing platforms around sports, music, travel and entertainment, including partnerships involving FIFA, the Olympics, tennis, the NBA, UEFA Champions League, Netflix and Live Nation.

Marcondes said ABI’s innovation business generates more than $6 billion annually. Its growth framework includes four principal levers:

• Superior core beer brands supported by affordability and local relevance.
• Premiumization through Corona, Stella Artois, Michelob ULTRA and Budweiser.
• “Balanced choices,” including non-alcoholic and lower-calorie or lower-carbohydrate beers.
• Beyond-beer products, including ready-to-drink cocktails, flavored beverages and other spirits-based offerings.

The balanced-choices portfolio now represents 11% of ABI’s business, Marcondes said. He added that the company’s beyond-beer revenue is growing 37%, though ABI described itself as a challenger rather than a category leader in that segment.

D2C and BEES scale data-driven commercial capabilities

Chief Direct to Consumer Officer Lucas Herscovici said ABI’s direct-to-consumer platforms, including Zé Delivery, TaDa and PerfectDraft, are becoming a competitive advantage in consumer insights, brand building and innovation testing. During the first half of 2026, D2C net revenue increased 9%, active consumers rose 11%, and more than 4 million consumers were enrolled in the company’s rewards programs, he said.

Herscovici said online beer sales have grown five times faster in ABI’s D2C markets than in its non-D2C markets. He also said the company can use D2C platforms to test concepts, target product sampling and identify demand signals sooner than traditional methods.

Chief B2B Officer Nick Caton said BEES, ABI’s business-to-business platform, is live in 30 markets, connects more than 4 million retailers and generates about $60 billion in annualized gross merchandise value. BEES Marketplace generates around $5 billion of GMV and is expected to rank among ABI’s top 10 contributors to EBITDA growth this year, Doukeris said.

Caton said BEES has increased retailer engagement, with more than one-third of orders placed outside business hours and more than 3 million active members in its Club B rewards program. He said retailer net promoter scores have improved by more than 45 points to 71 since BEES was implemented.

In Brazil, Caton said BEES helped expand the number of buyers served from about 750,000 to 1.3 million and increased SKUs per buyer by roughly 20%. The company is also expanding its third-party platform model, through which partner companies digitize their own routes to market using BEES. That model represented more than half of BEES Marketplace GMV, according to Caton.

U.S. portfolio rebalance targets growth categories

Brendan Whitworth, CEO of ABI’s North America zone, said the U.S. business has broadened from beer into spirits-based ready-to-drink products and energy drinks. He said ABI now competes across an almost $190 billion total-alcohol market, which grew 6% over the past five years, with energy representing a potential additional $25 billion addressable market.

Whitworth said brands above core beer and in beyond beer now account for about 48% of U.S. net revenue. He highlighted Michelob ULTRA, Busch Light, Cutwater, NÜTRL and recently acquired BeatBox as important growth brands. Cutwater is the largest ready-to-drink cocktail brand, according to Whitworth, while Michelob ULTRA and Busch Light have supported ABI’s U.S. beer-share growth since late 2024.

The company said it has also streamlined its U.S. portfolio, eliminating more than 60% of beyond-beer SKUs, more than 75% of craft SKUs and more than 30 brands. Whitworth said ABI has invested $2 billion in its U.S. supply chain in recent years, including capacity for non-alcoholic beer and spirits production.

ABI executives said the company intends to continue prioritizing a smaller number of brands and platforms while using data, artificial intelligence and its distribution ecosystem to support long-term growth.

About Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (NYSE:BUD)

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV is a global brewing and beverage company headquartered in Leuven, Belgium. The company produces, markets and distributes beer and other alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages through a broad portfolio of international, regional and local brands.

Its leading brands include Budweiser, Bud Light, Corona, Stella Artois, Michelob ULTRA, Beck's, Hoegaarden and Leffe. AB InBev also offers a range of craft, premium, flavored and alcohol-free beverages, serving consumers through retail, hospitality and e-commerce channels.

The company was formed in 2008 through the combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch, bringing together Anheuser-Busch's U.S.

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