Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining Becle's fourth quarter unaudited financial results call. During this call, you may hear certain forward-looking statements. These statements may relate to our future prospects, developments, and business strategies, and may be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as anticipate believe, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, predict, project, will, goals, target, strategy and similar terms and phrases, and may include references to assumptions. Forward-looking statements are based on the current expectations and assumptions regarding our business, the economy, and other future conditions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, by their nature, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. With all the foregoing reasons, you are cautioned against relying on such forward-looking statements.
We undertake no obligations to publicly disclose or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Without further ado, I would like to pass the line to Mr. Fernando Suárez, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Fernando, the floor is yours. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us to discuss the unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31st, 2021 of Becle, commercially known as Jose Cuervo. We are joined today by Juan Domingo Beckmann, Chief Executive Officer, and the rest of the senior management team. Before we begin, we would like to remind you that these figures discussed on this call were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, and published in the Mexican Stock Exchange. The information in the fourth quarter of 2021 is preliminary and is provided with the understanding that once financial statements are available, updated information will be shared in the appropriate electronic formats. At this time, we would like to remind participants that your lines will be in listen- only mode until the question- and- answer session.
Now we will pass on the call to Becle CEO, Mr. Juan Domingo Beckmann.
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today to discuss Becle's fourth quarter and full- year 2021 results. I will make some opening comments, and then I will ask Luis Félix to discuss the performance of our U.S. and Canada business. Olga Limón will review our Mexico and LatAm results, and Gordon Dron will discuss our results in the EMEA and APAC regions. Fernando Suárez will then walk you through our financial results. We are very pleased with overall results for the fourth quarter and the full- year 2021, in spite of the recent COVID resurgence with the Omicron variant affecting the global recovery. For the quarter, Becle delivered a very solid 5.5% year-on-year growth in volume and 22.4% increase in net sales value, mainly driven by strong performance of premium brands throughout the regions, led by our tequila portfolio.
2021 was a challenging year in many ways, given supply chain constraints, lockdowns affecting on-premise sales, and a tough 2020 comparison base for off-premise. Despite that, for the full- year 2021, Becle delivered a very solid 8.8% volume growth and 12% increase in net sales value. Gross profit and operating income growth was 16.6% and 3.3% respectively. We're very pleased with this performance despite the challenges. In the U.S. and Canada region, volume was up 10.5% versus the fourth quarter of 2020. The product mix favored premium tequila brands, and compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, net sales value of the tequila portfolio was up 39.5%.
We faced important supply chain issues in the region, where our team did a great job limiting its effects and catching up with production by year-end. We remain confident about underlying demand as depletions are holding up versus the strong 2020 numbers. EMEA and APAC solid results this quarter were driven by good on-trade sales and tequila performance. Quarterly volume was up in both regions by 29% and 53.7% respectively. EMEA and APAC had high depletions, and despite the APAC region still being under heavy lockdowns, it still posted impressive numbers even when comparing versus 2019 base. In Mexico, despite volume being down by 10%, by prioritizing premium brand sales and increasing pricing in the last quarter, net sales value grew by 7.5%.
Even though LatAm still faced COVID-19 restrictions and supply constraints, volume and net sales value increased double digits in the quarter and in the full year. Our performance continues to outpace the broader spirits industry, reflecting our attractive portfolio of brands and favorable positioning in key growth categories. We are confident we can continue to deliver premiumization within our portfolio. Looking into 2022, we will be seeking to mitigate the cost pressures for the global supply chain situation by way of increasing price across our markets and our portfolio. I will now turn the call over to Luis Félix to discuss our U.S. and Canada results.
Thank you, Juan Domingo, and good morning, everyone. We are very pleased with our commercial performance in the United States and Canada for the fourth quarter and the full year of 2021.
For the 13 weeks ending December 4, 2021, consumer takeaway in the off-premise for our brands in the U.S. as measured by Nielsen data, grew over the three-month period by 0.3%, marginally outpacing the industry, which grew 0.2%. This compares to a strong growth during the same period of last year of 21%, versus the industry growing at 12%. Given the significant impact of COVID-19 in our 2020 results, we have been looking at our business results versus both prior year and versus a two-year stack. Our consumer takeaway for the same period over the two-year stack grew 32%, outpacing the total distilled spirits industry, which grew 21% over the same period. Proximo's wholesaler depletions were up 6% for the quarter, lapping the fourth quarter of 2020, where depletions were up 10%.
When compared to the fourth quarter of 2019, depletions were up 17%. For the full- year period, depletions were up 1% versus 2020. Our growth in 2021 laps our previous year depletion growth rate of an unprecedented 23%, demonstrating the continued strength of our portfolio and the presence in key categories. Our tequila portfolio was up 13% for the quarter and completed 2021 up 4%, driven by continuous trend of our super- premium tequilas, which grew over 19% in the quarter and ended the full year up 19% as well. Our 4% growth in tequila during 2021 was impacted by supply chain constraints for key brands, which had limited glass availability for much of the second and third quarter.
Our supply chain team's proactive actions improved availability in the fourth quarter and managed to narrow the production gap by year end. These efforts helped mitigate potential out of stocks across wholesalers and benefited markets like Canada, which gained market share as a result of our effective inventory planning. Our ready-to-drink margarita category was down 1% for the quarter, but ended the year flat versus prior year, lapping an unprecedented growth in 2020, where depletions were up 38% in the fourth quarter and up 48% for the year. Our whiskey portfolio was up 2% during the quarter and up 7% for the full year, also lapping the strong 2020, where depletions were up 19% for the quarter and 18% for 2020.
Shipments for the quarter grew 10.5% over the previous year and ended the full year up 3.7%. Net sales value was up 25.8% versus the fourth quarter of 2020 and ended the full year up 4.6%, noting that the full- year rate reflects headwinds from exchange rate impact of roughly 6.5%. Our full NSV growth reflects the effects of 2021 price increase across our tequila portfolio and improved performance of our premium tequila brands. The quarter also benefited from improved availability of our brands versus the supply chain constraints that we saw during the second and third quarter. These allow for a recovery of wholesaler inventories from reduced levels in previous months during the October to December timeframe.
We increased A&P spend during the fourth quarter, reflecting the higher media and sponsorship spend in our strategic initiatives, including super and ultra-premium tequila brands, as well as our whiskey portfolio. Going forward, we are confident we will be able to execute price action across our portfolio in the U.S. in order to partially offset the inflationary pressures that we have been experiencing in our cost structure and margins. I will now turn over the call to Olga Limón to discuss the Mexico and Latin America results.
Thank you, Luis, and good morning, everyone. I'm happy to be here with you all for my first conference call as the managing director of Mexico and LatAm to discuss the results from our region. Although overall volume decreased in Mexico, mainly due to industry-wide supply chain constraints, net sales value grew 7.5% for the first quarter and 24.4% for 2021. Price increases coupled with a better mix helped to achieve these very positive results. Tequila and whiskey performed very well, growing net sales value 16.2% and 38.5% respectively for the quarter, led by our premium brands. We continue to generate higher market share in both the tequila category and the spirits industry as a whole on a quarterly and yearly basis, as measured by Nielsen and ISC . This shows our brands are well-positioned and well-regarded in the market.
Depletion levels have also improved. Full- year depletions grew double digits across the business with tequila, whiskey, and mezcal being the fastest-growing categories. Moving on to LatAm, we saw a significant increase of 32.5% in volume quarter-over-quarter and 87.4% year-over-year. This growth was mainly driven by markets such as Colombia, Peru, and Chile. COVID-19 restrictions are still in place in some countries, such as Brazil, and supply chain constraints continue to affect our industry in the region. However, we believe our response was effective in softening the impact.
Especially the decision to prioritize glass supply for our higher margin brands. Looking forward to the beginning of 2022, we are encouraged by the demand we are seeing for the products that we are focused on, such as tequila and mezcal. We will continue making decisions to ensure our brands are readily available to our customers across the region, and we'll also be taking price actions across our portfolio. I will now turn the call over to Gordon Dron, Managing Director of EMEA & APAC region. Thank you, Gordon.
Many thanks, Olga. Good afternoon, stormy Europe. EMEA and APAC region reported a very strong fourth quarter with a record performance for the region over the course of 2021. The robust results were delivered across EMEA and Australia in particular, as our tequila business performed exceptionally well as a result of the on-trade resurgence driven by pipeline refill and the strong consumer demand alongside the continued outstanding regional sales. Europe, which became impacted by Omicron in the latter part of Q4, proved to be more resilient than in previous quarters due to strong vaccination programs and many governments being more reluctant to close down businesses as countries adapted to live with COVID. This all helped to deliver a strong double-digit growth in tequila performance, both in Q4 and over 2021.
This further benefited from our whiskey rum portfolios performing strongly, delivering high double-digit volume and even higher NSV growth for the year. EMEA and APAC overall volume and value growth versus 2020 has been driven by dynamic tequila performance, while also including RTD development, premiumization, and price increases. Looking at EMEA specifically, our Q4 depletions outstripped our shipments. Part of this was due to supply chain constraints and some due to exceptionally strong November, December depletions. All these factors have resulted in an exceptional Q4 fourth quarter performance in EMEA, with depletions up 41% versus last year and 20% over 2019. The full-year performance is similar for both volume and value growth versus both these years. We ended 2021 with slightly less stock than we anticipated, therefore with a positive momentum entering into 2022.
Asia Pacific, excluding Australia and China, has continued to be heavily impacted in many markets with whole or partial lockdowns in the on-trade channel, with it making up such a large portion of our third-party market business in the region. We've been impacted by these restrictions. Despite that backdrop, volume and net sales have grown in the high double digits versus 2020, indicating that even with said challenges, we continue to focus on value creation, and where appropriate, have not shied away from price increases. Across the EMEA and APAC region, we enter 2022 in a healthy position. A more stable COVID environment and a stronger supply chain to satisfy demand should enable us to continue growing going forward. This will also help us to take pricing actions in our markets as our portfolio.
I will now hand over the call to Fernando Suárez to talk you through our financial results at a consolidated level.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Let me walk you through the fourth quarter financial results. During the quarter, the company reported a 22.4% increase in consolidated net sales to MXN 13.1 billion. This increase reflects the double-digit growth in our Jose Cuervo and other tequila categories. For the full year, net sales increased 12.5% to MXN 39.4 billion. During the fourth quarter, gross profit increased 40.5% to MXN 7.3 billion, while the gross margin increased to 55.5% from 48.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the 2021 full- year period, gross margin was 54.0% compared to 52.1% for 2020.
The quarterly and full- year gross margin increases reflect a stable agave pricing environment, favorable regional mix towards U.S. and Canada, and improvement in sales of higher margin premium brands. A&P expenses as a percentage of net sales increased to 26% from 23.6% in the fourth quarter of 2020 as a result of our previously communicated catch-up of A&P investment opportunities, primarily in the U.S. On a full- year basis, A&P was 22% of net sales versus 19.1% in 2020. This reflects resumption, with 2020 offering fewer investment opportunities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Distribution expenses increased 27% to MXN 660 million when compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, mainly driven by an acceleration in sales and increased freight, warehousing, and logistic costs arising from the supply chain constraints and challenges.
As a percentage of net sales, distribution increased to 5.1% from 4.9% in the fourth quarter of 2020. From a full- year perspective, distribution expenses as a percentage of net sales increased to 5.1% from 3.9% in 2020. SG&A expenses increased 11.2% during the fourth quarter, representing 8.5% of net sales, compared to 9.4% in the fourth quarter of 2020. This was mainly driven by an increase in sales. On a full- year basis, SG&A as a percentage of sales represented 8.9% compared to 9.6% during 2020. Operating income increased 83.9%, while the operating margin increased to 16% from 10.6% in the fourth quarter of 2020.
For the full year, operating profit increased 3.3% to MXN 7.1 billion compared to the prior year. The operating margin decreased to 18.1% from 19.7% in 2020. Fourth quarter EBITDA increased 76.1% year-over-year to MXN 2.3 billion with a 17.6% margin. For the full year, EBITDA margin was 20.1% versus 21.7% margin of 2020. Net financial results for the quarter resulted in a gain of MXN 138 million, primarily driven by an extraordinary benefit of MXN 192 million from debt modification under IFRS 9 as a result of our liability management exercise and refinancing during the fourth quarter of last year.
For the full- year 2021, net financial results were a loss of MXN 214 million. Fourth quarter consolidated net income increased 71.5% to MXN 1.6 billion, and the net margin was 12% compared to 8.6% in the fourth quarter of 2020. For the full year, net margin was 12.8%. Earnings per share were MXN 0.44 for the quarter and MXN 1.40 for the full year. As of December 31st, 2021, cash and cash equivalents were MXN 12.8 billion, and total debt was MXN 18.5 billion. We maintain a strong balance sheet, extended debt maturity schedule with access to competitive long-term financing, conservative financial leverage, and ample liquidity to execute our long-term growth strategy.
Regarding growth guidance for the year, we expect to deliver full-year mid-single-digit underlying volume growth. Regarding our CapEx program, we're continuing with our strategic expansion projects, the most significant of which are our 1800 distillery in Tequila, Jalisco, and our aging and warehousing facilities. Our 2022 CapEx guidance is in the $250 million range. Now I will turn the call back to the Operator for questions and answers.
Thank you very much for the presentation today. We'll now be moving to the Q&A part of the call. If you have any questions, please press star two on your keypad. That's star two on the keypad, and wait for your name to be called. If you are dialed in via the web, you may also ask a voice or a text question. We'll now give a minute or so for the questions to come in. Thank you very much. Our first question comes from Mr. Ben Theurer from Barclays. Please go ahead, sir. Your line is open.
Thank you very much, and good morning. Congrats on the results. Two questions. Question number one, just wanted to understand a little more what you've been doing on the pricing side in Mexico and what the implications maybe during the quarter were on volume. Because if we look at volume, it was obviously 10% below last year's level, but actually 12% below 2019 levels. It's like the only region where volumes were actually downwards was 2019. I wanted to understand more, is that around the elasticity because of the pricing increase or what's been driving that relatively weak volume? Still, I mean, pricing was very good. That would be the first question.
Okay. I will answer that. Mainly the fall was because of industry supply chain constraints, and they still pose a challenge to us. We took price early in the quarter in order to offset shortages of raw material, but depletions were okay. It's not a depletion problem. We have double-digit depletion, so we're okay.
Okay. Got you. My second question, I mean, we've talked about this in the past about some of the, you just said supply chain, so, raw materials, glass, and so on, and having had an impact. Is that a situation that has normalized, or is it still somewhat challenged, but you're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel? Where do we stand on some of those packaging materials?
This is Juan Domingo. No, it hasn't normalized. We believe it's a little better, but so far, I hope by the end of the year this normalizes, but so far, it's still a challenge.
Yeah. Well, that's a challenge, but at least agave is stable. Well, with that, I'll leave it here, and congrats again on the results.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Andrea Teixeira from JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Your line is open.
Thank you. Good morning, and congrats on your results. I just wanna go to the margin point. This marks, you know, an impressive recovery after many years of pressures from agave. I was just hoping to see if this is the inflection and you expect to go from here as we think about your algorithm for 2022. Like, have you seen the worst and we're just gonna start to see that improvement or other inflation or other parts. Obviously, you mentioned the distribution inflation and all of those, which are separate, but I'm thinking more labor, all of those taken together with your pricing. You expect margin to go in the right direction now, in other words, up year-over-year, given your efforts to integrate agave and obviously stabilization of the spot prices.
I want to just make sure, please comment on that on the margin. Then on the mid-single-digit volume guide, appreciate that visibility. If we think about Latin America, it seems as if Latin America has a recovery, you know, in front of this situation of the supply chain. Should we be thinking Latin America outperforming that mid-single-digit and the U.S. potentially being below that? Or the U.S. is still running that mid-single-digit on top of the growth that you had over the past two years? Thank you so much.
Yeah. Andrea, let me just start with the first question regarding margins. Although we do not give margin guidance, we're only giving volume guidance for the year. As we said in our scripted comments and disclosure, we see the benefit from stable agave pricing. The margin expansion has also to do with an improved mix as well as more premiumized portfolio sales. As you well point out, distribution has been a cost headwind for us. Just in general, inflationary pressures across the cost structure, we are trying to offset that with price increases across the regions. One more point regarding A&P. You will see an uptick in A&P for the quarter and for the year on a year-on-year basis.
We printed 22% A&P as a percentage of net sales in 2021. We do expect to go north of that, about a point or so, in the 23% area, as we see more opportunities to deploy A&P going forward across different regions. Regarding your second question on Latin America's growth potential, I'll ask Olga to comment qualitatively on Latin America in general.
If you can go back, sorry, to the U.S. as well, and obviously I wanna hear from Olga. Congrats, Olga, from your position.
Hi. As you know, LatAm had a very strong performance this quarter and on a yearly basis. What we expect from LatAm is to normalize because we have a very high volume base there and we still have a lot of uncertainty in terms of supply chain constraints and as well as other market competitors' conditions. I would say that. Thank you.
This is Luis. For the U.S., we're also striving to get single digit, middle- single- digits growth in volume. We believe that, as you know, the tequila category is the fastest growing spirit category in the U.S. We believe that this year we still had some problems in terms of supplying the amount of product that we were to sell. We believe that it's feasible that we continue to grow, and that's what we're heading in this year.
I appreciate the comments. Thank you, the three of you.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Mr. Ricardo Alves from Morgan Stanley. The line is open. Please go ahead, sir.
Hi, everyone. Thanks for the call. Impressive numbers. First question on pricing in the U.S. specifically. Your average unit revenues continued to surprise to the upside, very strong again. Just wanted to get some more color on that, particularly on the mix evolution from what you saw in the fourth quarter versus what we had in the third quarter. Would appreciate if you saw any major improvement on a sequential basis. Given how strong demand is, can you comment on any prospects for price increase in 2022, maybe early in 2022? That's my first question.
Second question, the speed of your vertical integration, I mean, pretty evident looking at your biological assets evolution in the short term throughout the second half of last year, the big improvement that you had. At the same time, we saw from the second to the third and then to the third, from the third to the fourth quarter a deceleration, which would imply, I believe that you're using more of your own agave. Just wanted to check that with you, if you think that, you know, you're speeding up your vertical integration as we speak. I know you cannot give guidance on that, but qualitatively color would be appreciated. Thank you so much.
Luis Félix, do you wanna comment on the first question? I can take the second question from Morgan Stanley.
Yes. Thank you, Ricardo. In terms of pricing in the U.S., we took a price increase in 2021, and we see no impact in our premium products. We just announced a new price increase, so we believe that the whole industry is looking into pricing, and we believe that this announcement that we just made will be implemented in the middle of the year. We believe that we will be in a good position to deliver the volume guidance that we are seeing right now.
As to your second question regarding the changes in biological assets in our balance sheet, again, we do not like to discuss agave integration for competitive reasons. We would just caution you not to utilize quarter-over-quarter movements in the biological asset as a proxy for integration. In that sense, what we can only say regarding biological asset is that we continue to step up our plantation efforts. Again, this year will be another year of double-digit increase in plantation in our drive to control our own agave. That would be the answer, Ricardo.
Appreciate that. I appreciate that, Fernando. Thank you. On the first question, just to clarify, you did not see major improvements on the mix of products from the third into the fourth quarter, right?
We saw improvement. After we took the price increase, we saw some deceleration in some of the brands. With our mix, we have a significant improvement in the fourth quarter, but that was more related to availability of product. As soon as we get the product, we were able to sell. I will probably ask Victor if he can comment on this question as well.
Yeah. Hi, Ricardo. On the quarter from the third to the fourth quarter, we didn't see an impact specifically on price increases in the results. You will see that year-over-year because we took our price increases earlier in 2021, and hence that's why you don't see it. The impact that you see from the third to the fourth quarter is mainly on the back of supply chain availability improvements, and a better mix of product mix that's been reflected in the portfolio.
Understood. Very clear. Appreciate the call. Thanks, everyone.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Mr. Fernando Olvera from Bank of America. Please go ahead, sir. The line is open.
Hi. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. Most of my questions were answered, but I think I don't know if you can comment about your product innovation projects for the year. That would be the first question. My second question would be related to dividends. How are you thinking about them this year given that the annual shareholders meeting is around the corner? Thank you.
Fernando, let me start with your second question, dividend, and we'll let the team answer the product innovation afterwards. Regarding dividend, we will be proposing a dividend payment not until the April general shareholders assembly. So we don't have that number for you ready yet, but we will communicate it in due course. Just as a way of reminder, our dividend payout ratio last year was 30% of consolidated net income. Regarding the first question on product innovation.
Product innovation, we are in the U.S., doing quite well with 1800 Cristalino, Tradicional Cristalino, which are relatively new brands. We're coming with a couple of new brands this year, which we cannot comment until they're launched. Mexico also, in mezcal, we're coming with some innovation.
Great. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much. Our next question comes from Marcella Recchia from Credit Suisse. Please go ahead, ma'am. Your line is open.
Hi, everyone. Thank you for taking my question, and congrats on the results. I have two questions. First, could you comment how your tequila portfolio today in U.S. compares to that of pre-pandemic in terms of segment share? My second question is, following the reopening in U.S., have you seen any signs of deceleration in the off-premise, or any kind of shift in terms of mix? Thank you.
Luis?
Well, in the case of the segment share, what we're seeing is, there is a significant trend of premiumization in the tequila category and in the spirits category. That premiumization is continued to gain market share even at a total industry is gaining share versus wine and beer. The premiumization is continuing, and it's not slowing down. What we're doing is, we're investing heavily in our super- premium and ultra- premium brands. We gain a little market share in those segments. As a total tequila, we are losing a little bit of market share in the U.S. because of the high growth in the ultra and super- premium segments of the category.
It's growing in value. It's growing, of course, much more than the premium segments, where we have a very strong position. In terms of the changes in the off and on-premise, we haven't seen a big swing of on and off-premise. We continue to see a very strong demand from the on-premise accounts, from the off-premise accounts. You know that the on-premise has been open and closed, and it's not totally open. We will probably start seeing that in this year. As far as the closing of the year, we saw a very strong off-premise still.
Perfect. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. This is all we have time for the questions today. I'll now be passing the line back to Juan Domingo for concluding remarks.
I would like to thank you again for your continued interest in Becle. We remain extremely confident in our family of brands and our prospects for long-term growth. Have a great day.
Thank you very much. This concludes today's conference call. We'll now be closing all the lines. Have a great day and a great weekend. Bye-bye.