Moody's: North American Breweries view negative

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed North American Breweries' B2 corporate family rating and changed the outlook to negative from stable.

Moody's said the negative outlook reflects North American Breweries' poor financial performance since the company was first rated in November, due to a number of factors including a lockout of the National Hockey League that hurt Labatt sales in the North East, de-stocking by wholesalers in anticipation and immediately after the Florida Ice & Farm Co.'s acquisition of the company, the cycling through of lost volume from one large contract manufacturing customer and poor weather and difficult beer dynamics in the North American market, which hurt volumes across the entire industry this winter, but particularly affected North American Breweries because of its concentration in the north eastern states.

© 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.