Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the world’s largest brewer, said Wednesday that profit fell 4.9 percent in the fourth quarter due to higher financing costs, and it forecast weak first quarter sales volumes in the United States and Brazil.
The maker of Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois and Beck’s said net profit was $1.76 billion, down from $1.85 billion in the same period a year ago. Exchange rate-linked losses in the fourth quarter of 2012 and gains on derivatives a year earlier caused a combined $400 million downward swing that wiped out savings made through cost cuts.
