Good morning, and thank you 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 our use of terms and phrases such as anticipated, believe, could, 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 our 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, risk, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements. For all the foregoing reasons, we are cautioned against relying on such forward-looking statements.
We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Now, I will welcome Mariana Rojo, Corporate Treasurer and Investor Relations Director. Miss, you are now on the line.
Thank you.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Mariana Rojo, Corporate Treasurer and Investor Relations Director. Thank you for joining us to discuss the unaudited financial fourth quarter ended december 31st, 2020, of Becle, commercially known as José Cuervo. I'm joined today by Juan Domingo Beckmann, Chief Executive Officer, Michael Keyes, President and CEO of Proximo Spirits, Steve Stanley, Senior VP of Commercial Strategy for Proximo, Luis Félix, Managing Director of Mexico and LatAm, Gordon Dron, Managing Director of EMEA and APAC, and Fernando Suárez, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that the figures discussed on this call were prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, or IFRS, and published in the Mexican Stock Exchange.
The fourth quarter of 2020 is preliminary and is provided with the understanding that once financial statements are available, updated information will be shared in the appropriate electronic format. At this time, I would like to remind participants that your lines will be in listen-only mode until the question-and-answer session. Now, I will pass the call on to Becle's CEO, Mr. Juan Domingo Beckmann.
Good morning. Thank you for joining us today fourth quarter and full year 2020 results. I hope you and your families are all keeping safe and healthy during these difficult times. I will make some open comments and then, as usual, I will ask Mike Keyes to discuss the performance of our US and Canada business. Luis Félix will review our Mexico and LatAm results, and Gordon Dron will discuss our results in EMEA and APAC regions. Fernando Suárez will then walk you through our financial results. As the year ended, we continued to face challenges in several of our markets as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, as they did throughout the year, our management was able to adapt effectively to the rapidly changing conditions.
This allowed us to continue to execute our business plan efficiently, and then the year we did sequential improvements in most of our fourth quarter, becle continued to operate in a difficult business environment, similar to what has been discussed in previous calls. In the U.S., we have consolidated our position in fast-growing categories, and by focusing in the off-premise channel, we have been able to weather the negative impact the pandemic has had on the on-premise channels and some categories. I also believe our results demonstrate the strength of our brands across different price segments. We continue to deliver growth in categories that have been showing significant strength throughout the year, such as tequila and RTDs, propelled by the popularity and convenience in dynamic markets for the spirits category.
We finished the year with strong volume growth in our tequila portfolio, where we increased price to our distributors in the United States. Results in Mexico and LatAm for 2020 faced several challenges, such as ban on alcohol, restrictions on travel, and closing of on-premise locations, and ended the year with double-digit declines in volume. As for the quarter, we had an easier comp from 4Q19, and thus you can see some quarter-to-quarter improvement in some indicators. The negative impact from the pandemic can still be seen across our portfolio. As for EMEA and APAC, results were negatively impacted by a third round of lockdowns during 2020 in most of the countries. This, as we saw in previous lockdowns, impacted almost all categories, but even more so in categories that are most reliant on the on-premise channels, such as tequila.
Considering all this together, Becle was able to deliver 18% top-line growth for the year. We were also able to post gross profit and net income growth of 17% and 39% for full year, respectively. I am proud of the company for being able to achieve these strong results, given all the challenges our business faced. Looking forward, while the ongoing difficulties with on-premise sales are likely to remain for the immediate future, we remain hopeful that as the world recovers, some geographies will begin to normalize from a social and economic standpoint towards the second half of the year. Although the environmental outlook are unusually uncertain right now, we are confident we will continue to adapt successfully as circumstances evolve, as we did in 2020.
Specifically, we are confident that our portfolio of leading brands, which is focused on high-growth spirits categories and enjoys a global distribution network, will allow us to continue generating value for our shareholders. Now, let me turn the call over to Mike Keyes.
Commercial performance in the United States and fourth quarter of 2020. consumer takeaway in the off-premise for our brands in the United States, as measured by Nielsen data, grew over the three-month period by 21%, outpacing the industry, which grew by 12% for the same 13 weeks ending December 23rd. Proximo's wholesale depletions were also up 9% for the quarter. Our tequila portfolio was up 9% for the quarter and completed 2020 up 24%, driven by continued strength in our super premium tequilas that was partially offset by reduced velocity on José Cuervo Especial during the quarter, where we increased price to our distributors in the United States. Our super premium tequila brands continued to grow over 20% for the quarter, in line with our full-year growth.
Our ready-to-drink margarita category performance was consistently strong, with depletions up fourth quarter and up 48% for the year. Our whiskey portfolio grew 17% during the quarter, with both Irish and North America whiskey depletions growing double digits. The quarter continued to be driven by exceptionally strong off-premise business, resulting from a change in consumer behavior due to the restrictions in the on-premise. Proximo's strength in the ready-to-drink margarita category and our strong super premium tequila growth continue to keep us well-positioned within the industry. Our alcohol-free portfolio depletions continued to underperform, which negatively impacted the volume figures for the quarter. Depletions on the rest of the portfolio were up 15%. Shipments for the quarter grew 5% over the previous year, compared to a 24% increase for the full year.
Net sales value was down 2% versus the quarter of 2019, as RTD shipments recovered during the quarter. For the full year, across all brands, depletions were up 23%, in line with our 22% reported volume growth, outpacing the rest of the industry. For the year, net sales value was up 33% versus 2019, with our super premium tequila and RTD portfolios leading the way with exceptional double-digit growth. We intentionally increased A&P fourth quarter. we increased our programming and our media spend on our strategic initiatives, including support for our super and ultra-premium tequila brands, as well as for our whiskey portfolio, which made up most of this increase. Our full-year A&P spend for 2020 was a lower percentage of net sales value than it was in 2019. I will now turn over the call to Luis Félix to discuss Mexico and Latin American results.
Thank you, Mike, and good morning, everyone. Challenges in Mexico fourth quarter, given the restrictions related to on-premise and wholesale sales as a result of the pandemic. Approximately a quarter of the population was living in regions which had returned to red maximum alert on the COVID-19 traffic light system during the festive period. This included many restrictions, such as restaurant and bar closures, as well as late-sale or dry laws in different areas across the country. As a result, volume declined 2.7% during the quarter, while net sales increased 4.3%, representing an improvement compared to third quarter. furthermore, the economic situation continues to drive the mix shift towards more affordable brands, which has negatively impacted our tequila portfolio. On-premise sales in Mexico remain severely affected even now.
We continue to support the restaurant sector as we can, and following our Va Por Todos campaign, we have supported their request to reopen in a safe manner, using more public space for outdoor seatings and allowing longer opening hours. Having said this, despite the negative environment, we were able to grow our market share as measured by Nielsen and ISCAM. This, we think, shows that our brands are well-positioned and well-regarded in the market, which makes us believe we should recover. In Latin America, we saw a 19% drop in volumes year on year. The biggest drop came from our tequila portfolio, which was affected mostly by events in the region, where tequila is a heavily on-premise category, and the restrictions from the pandemic were similar to those we saw in Mexico during this period.
Depletions in October and November had started to show some improvements, but then the lockdowns in December more than upset that. We will continue to work to adapt to the market environment in both Mexico and Latin America. We still expect a challenging beginning of the year, but we are hopeful that in coming quarters, the situation will start to turn. I will now turn the call over to Gordon Dron, Managing Director for EMEA and APAC regions.
Many thanks, Luis Félix, and good afternoon from Europe. 2020 was a challenging year across the whole EMEA and APAC region, with some markets in APAC remaining closed throughout the year, while in Europe, many markets have endured three lockdowns, with the third and current lockdown starting just ahead of the festive peak season holiday. fourth quarter was especially complex, with a large double-digit volume decline driven particularly by tequila, which is an on-premise-reliant category. Our whiskey and rum portfolios were more resilient, performing strongly in the retail trade over this period, by and large making up for the on-trade shortfalls. For these brands, volumes were down by low single digits. EMEA ended the year with a low double-digit volume decline across the portfolio, but just a single-digit decline in terms of net sales value, reflecting a more premium mix.
The Asia-Pacific region was resilient from both volume and sales standpoint, notably on the non-tequila portfolio, which was again driven by our whiskey single malts alongside the continuing strong launch year for our rum premix and the strong performance of our spirits portfolio in Australia. Looking into 2021, we have a reasonably balanced stock position in the markets despite the closures, so we should be in a good position to take advantage of the return to growth when the channels reopen. I'll now turn the call over to Fernando Suárez to review the financial results. Thank you.
Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Let me walk fourth quarter, the company reported a 2.8% increase in consolidated net sales to MXN 10.7 billion pesos. This increase reflects the net impact of our brand's strength in fast-growing categories and markets, as well as our portfolio's positioning in the off-premise channel. For the full year, net sales increased 17.9% to MXN 35 billion fourth quarter, gross profit decreased 2.4% to 5.1 billion pesos, and gross margin decreased to 48.3% from fourth quarter of 2019. for the 2020 full-year period, gross margin was 52.1% compared to 52.7% for 2019. The quarterly and full-year gross margin decrease continues to reflect input cost pressures but was partially offset by favorable regional mix towards the U.S. and Canada region.
A&P expenses, as a percentage of net sales, increased to 23.6% from fourth quarter of 2019, as a result of our previously communicated catch-up of A&P investment opportunities, primarily in the U.S. On a full-year A&P basis, A&P represented 19.1% of net sales versus 21.6% in 2019, resulting from less investment opportunities in the year during the COVID-19 pandemic. Distribution expenses increased 52.7% - MXN 526 million when fourth quarter of 2019, mainly driven by an acceleration in sales and the expenses associated with the implementation of a new third-party logistics fourth quarter of 2020. as a percentage of net sales, distribution increased to 4.9% from fourth quarter of 2019. from a full-year perspective, distribution expenses, as a percentage of net sales, increased to 3.9% from 3.5% in 2019.
SG&A expenses increased fourth quarter, representing 9.4% of net sales compared to fourth quarter of 2019. this was mainly driven by an increase in sales and a higher accrual for variable-based compensation, given the strong full-year results. On a full-year basis, SG&A, as a percentage of sales, represented 9.6% compared to 9.9% during 2019. Operating income decreased 44% as the operating margin decreased to 10.6% from fourth quarter of 2019. during the full year of 2020, operating profit increased 27.4% to MXN 6.8 billion compared to the prior year. Operating margin increased to 19.7% compared to fourth quarter ebitda decreased 41.8% year over year at MXN 1.3 billion, with a 12.3% EBITDA margin. For the full year, EBITDA margin was 21.7% versus 20.5% EBITDA margin of 2019.
Net financial results for the quarter were a loss of MXN 7 million, primarily driven by net interest expense, as well as the exchange rate fluctuations between the US dollar and the Mexican peso, partially offset by the recognition of a MXN 304 million resulting from the fair value through profit and loss of the company's call option to acquire 51% of the equity interest in Eire Born Spirits. Net financial results were a loss of MXN 38 million for the fourth quarter consolidated net income decreased 35.7% to MXN 919 million, and the net margin was 8.6% compared to fourth quarter of 2019. for the full year, net margin was 14.7%. Earnings per share were MXN 26 per share for the quarter and MXN 1.43 per share for the full year.
As of December 31, 2020, cash and cash equivalents were MXN 7.6 billion, and total debt was MXN 9.9 billion. We continue to maintain a strong balance sheet with conservative financial leverage and ample liquidity to execute our long-term growth strategy. Moving on to guidance for the year, we remain in a volatile business environment with uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 crisis and impacts. The company will continue to hold off on yearly volume guidance for now. Regarding our CAPEX program, we're continuing with our strategic expansion projects, the most significant of which are our 1800 distillery in Tequila and the Bushmills distillery expansion in Northern Ireland. Our CAPEX investments represented MXN 3.5 billion for 2020. We have also provided notice of the exercise of the company's call option to acquire 51% of the equity interest in Eire Born Spirits and expect to close the transaction in the second quarter.
Now, we turn the call back to the operator for questions and answers.
At this time, we will be conducting a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. A confirmation tone will indicate your line is in the question queue. You may press star 2 if you would like to remove your question from the queue. For participants using speaker equipment, it may be necessary to pick up your handset before pressing the star key. One moment, please, as we pull up your questions. Our first question comes from the line of Ben Theurer with Barclays. Please state your question.
Hey, good morning, everyone, and thanks for taking my question. So, first of all, congrats on the strong full-year results of the last quarter. It wasn't precisely that strong. Along those lines, my first question, could you elaborate a little more and give a little more context around the margin contraction, the gross margin contraction? Has it also to do with the much stronger volume that was basically coming out of the non-alcoholic piece and the RTD piece, while the tequila segment, particularly the José Cuervo, was obviously weak on a year-to-year basis? Just to get a little more feel around the impact of margins just from a composition on the volume side, that would be my first question.
Yes, Ben, let me start with that. In terms of the gross margin contraction, primarily two effects going on there. First was the impact from the regional mix. As you saw, we had a single-digit growth in the U.S., and we saw recoveries in Mexico and the rest of the world. So that's the first effect on the regional mix side. And secondly, also, we have an impact on product mix, as has been explained by our U.S. and Mexico teams there. Also, in terms of cost of goods sold dragging gross margins, we do have input cost year-on-year pressures, primarily agave-related. That would be the explanations, Ben. And to your second question.
The second question, and I'm not going to ask for agave next year, so I'm going to keep this short. But around the guidance in general, so you said it was about MXN 3.5 billion in CAPEX for 2020. What's your expectation for CAPEX in 2021, and how do you think about the distribution/freight cost as well as SG&A and A&P, considering that there are certain situations to deal with that might impact on logistics, but at the same time, you still have a lot of restrictions? How do you think about the other items that are more in your hands in terms of spending, be it on distribution, be it on A&P, and what's your ultimate outlook for CAPEX for 2021?
Yes, Ben, let me start with CAPEX, distribution, and A&P, and I will let Mikey and the team complement me if needed. But on CAPEX for 2021, we expect to have a similar amount than 2020. That would be our CAPEX guidance at this stage. In terms of distribution, you did see a cost creep there in distribution, in fourth quarter, and in distribution, we are implementing a new third-party logistics facility that we incurred in startup fourth quarter. but as we implement this new logistics facility, we would expect to achieve savings as it ramps up in the coming quarters. Some of the savings will come through the COGS line instead of the distribution line, but that would be our expectation going forward.
In terms of A&P, you did see that we commented that we have caught up with A&P fourth quarter, as we had been stating in earlier calls. And I don't know if Mike wants to comment on specific A&P in the US region. Mike?
Yes. Yes. I guess, Fernando, all I would say about it is, on the previous calls, we've talked about we were not purposefully not caught up in Q1, 2, and 3. The world just changed, and we had to adapt with it. And so during the fourth quarter in particular, things began to open up for us, and we've gotten more involved in supporting some of our key strategic initiatives like Premium Plus Tequila, our whiskey portfolio. We've invested in local marketing and some of the geography where we just see real opportunities for growth. We've invested more than we've ever invested in e-commerce and social media and taking advantage of this changing world that we are uniquely positioned to compete in with our RTD category with regard to at-home consumption.
So as we said in third quarter, we were going to look for opportunities, and we weren't going to take our foot off the gas with regard to A&P.
Okay. So basically, for 2021, we should just assume something very similar in that high teens, around about 20% as percentage of sales, correct?
Yes.
Thank you very much.
Our next question comes from Ricardo Alves with Morgan Stanley. Please state your question.
Hello, everybody. Thanks for the call. First question on the U.S. We've been struggling a little bit to reconcile the industry data that everybody follows with the mid-single-digit volume expansion in the U.S. So if you could expand a little bit on that. Appreciate the holiday season weaker during the pandemic. I think you mentioned that in the release. But is it fair to say that some sort of sell-in and sell-out issues here, perhaps because of what we saw in third quarter? so any color on that point would be helpful. And on top of that, I think you mentioned depletion in your preliminary remarks. I would ask you if you could repeat that for the U.S. specifically. That would be helpful for us to have an idea of how we should expect volumes into early 2021. That's my first question.
Yeah. I'll start. This is Mike's. With regard to just a little bit of the deceleration for fourth quarter is always, regardless of the pandemic or anything else, just a very, very obviously a very strong quarter. This year, it was more complicated with the lack of holiday parties and the lack of get-togethers and those kinds of fourth quarter comp is always a harder comp than the other three quarters. On top of that, we took price in the third quarter on José Cuervo Especial in the United States. And we're seeing the expected natural short-term volume deceleration that you would expect as a consequence of that. With regard to our RTD business and our whiskey and our tequila business, it's still very, very strong.
Steve, I don't know if you have anything you would want to add to that?
No, Mike. I think the only thing you need to be careful of is that Nielsen only represents the off-premise and heavily weighted towards Especial and RTDs within the portfolio. It's probably overrepresented relative to the depletion representation of those two brands. That's helpful. And could you guys just repeat the depletions in the US? I don't know if it's in terms of fourth quarter, but i don't know if it's fair to say that the first quarter is shaping up to be a bit better or any kind of forward-looking you can give or depletions.
Yeah. Someone's got to guide me on what I'm allowed to say about next year. At 50,000 feet, we're still in uncharted waters with the pandemic for at least the next couple of months. I'm no smarter than anybody else with regard to when we will emerge and how we will all emerge as an industry and as a people from the pandemic, so I'm not sure what I'm allowed to say about next year, but we're not giving guidance on next year, but for the early parts of the year, we should see, I think, somewhat similar results.
Ricardo, you requested that we repeat the scripted remarks regarding consumer takeaway.
Yeah, on the depletion side, yes. Thank you, Fernando.
Okay. On the consumer takeaway, over the three-month period, as measured by Nielsen data, the result was 21% outpacing the industry, which grew by 12% in the 13 weeks ending December 23rd. And Proximo's wholesaler depletions were up 9% for the quarter. Hopefully, this addresses your question.
It does. Thank you very much. The 9% was the one I was looking for. My last question. I think you guys are buying the remainder stake, Proper No. Twelve. I think it's a good opportunity for you guys to elaborate a little bit more on that. If you can disclose qualitative information, how the brand is performing, because at least from our perspective, it seems to be one of the fastest-growing brands on your portfolio. So we'd appreciate any color or rationale behind the transaction. That would be super helpful.
Yeah. With regard to the brand itself, this is Mike again. It is a phenomenal brand. It's the fastest-growing brand in the dynamic Irish whiskey category, and it's just been a very, very good brand for us, and we see great promise with it for the future.
We cannot tell you anything more regarding the brand because we haven't closed.
Understood. That's very clear and helpful. Thanks, everybody.
Our next question comes from Andrea Teixeira with JP Morgan. Please state your question.
Hey, good morning, everyone. It's actually a question from Andrea. So just at a high level, can we please share just a little bit of qualitative commentary around the status of retail inventory at wholesale, retail, and consumer pantries, if possible? And then just secondly, from a pricing standpoint, can you maybe just talk a little bit about your pricing strategy over the balance of 2021 following some of those pricing actions that you discussed in 2020? Thanks very much.
Steve, do you want to start with inventory?
Yeah, sure. Hey, Kojo, thanks for the question. I would say overall, distributor inventory has behaved as they have in the past. As fourth quarter is usually a build at the distributor level, and for the quarter, the distributors built a little bit less than they have in the past, but not substantially, about 100,000 cases less, but overall, for the year, we actually had a build of about 250,000 cases if you look at December versus last year's December close, and most of that came within the RTD category, and as you would expect, the RTD category has grown from a volume standpoint, so those extra cases actually represent less days.
Got it. That's helpful. Thank you.
Just from a pricing strategy, we would, I think, say that our pricing strategy, in particular with regard to José Cuervo Especial, is to have the brand on the shelves through our pricing to our distributors at a level that represents the equity of the brand. I would say we're a consumer-led, opportunistic pricer. We're looking for opportunities geographically. We took, like I said, a national increase on José Cuervo in the third quarter.
That's great. Thanks a lot.
in the case of Mexico, we announced in February a price increase, which will be effective in March. So we're taking a price increase in Mexico for mostly the entire sum of, let's say, 80% of our brands in tequila and some other categories.
Perfect. Thanks, everyone.
Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Emiliano Hernández with GBM. Please state your question.
Hello, Juan Domingo, Fernando, Michael. Thanks for the space for questions. My question is in the US for 2021, and I know you're not giving guidance, but could you give some sensitivity on how do you expect volumes to behave in 2021 after this strong year, at least directionally? And also, how much of the increased volume would you say is here to stay? Thank you very much.
Yeah. Mariana, thanks for the question. It's a really hard question to answer. I mean, we're in a situation that hasn't occurred in over 100 years. To try to figure out how it's going to actually unfold and behave is very, very difficult. What we do know is we've got a few more months or a couple more months of COVID numbers against non-COVID numbers. And then we're going to get into the situation where we're going up against pandemic numbers, which generally will be more challenging, for sure. And then it's anybody's guess as to what's going to happen in the on-premise. I think from a consumer standpoint, I think to some degree, consumers have been taught and conditioned to experiment with more cocktails at home. And that's why the ready-to-drink business and the RTD business has been so dynamic.
I expect to a large degree through 2021 that that's not going to change a great deal. I don't know what's going to happen in the on-premise. I think some people think that people are going to flick a light switch when people are vaccinated and we're going to return to pre-pandemic times in the on-premise. I don't think that's realistic. Unfortunately, a lot of bars and restaurants have struggled. Many have closed down, and I just don't know that consumers are going to, some will, but I just don't know that the vast majority of consumers are going to jump in with both feet. People talk about it, maybe some people being a light switch. I think it's more of a dimmer switch where people will, some people will adapt to the on-premise opening up, and some will, I think, remain more committed to at-home consumption.
Okay. Thanks, Michael. That's very helpful.
And once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Once again, as a reminder, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Our next question comes from Juan Guzmán, with Scotiabank. Please state your question.
Hi. Good morning, everyone. I hope that you and your families are doing well and prepared for the space for questions. I have a couple here. First, I'd appreciate it if you can share with us what you have observed regarding your market share performance during the quarter, especially in the U.S., and second one, thinking about the first months of this year, we'd appreciate it if you can share with us if you saw any changes in the dynamics of agave health in the industry and if we should expect a bit less pressure over COGS during this year in comparison to 2020. Thanks.
Yes. Let me start with your second question, and then I'll pass on the market share performance in the quarter for the U.S. team. But again, on agave pressures, yes, we have been observing agave year-on-year cost pressures. But as we have been stating in previous calls, agave prices have been stable in the past few quarters. It's too early to tell if this is an inflection point or a reversal of trend. However, we on our side have been stepping up our plantation efforts in the past few years, as we have been stating, and are planting accordingly to meet our long-term requirements. That's what we would care to say on agave. And as to your first question, if the U.S. team can comment on market share.
Yeah. Again, at 50,000 feet, I think that justifiably everybody is fixated, as the world is, on the pandemic. I would just like to remind everybody that from a market share perspective, Proximo was gaining share before the pandemic and has been gaining share during the pandemic. And I just don't see that changing post-pandemic in the sense that we have great brands that operate in great categories. And I don't know any more than anybody else what's going to happen with the pandemic over the next many months. But what I do fully expect is that Proximo and our brands, our tequila and our whiskey brands, our Kraken Rum brand, will continue to be very, very competitive as we were pre-pandemic.
We're clear. Thanks, everyone.
And with that, we reach the end of our question-and-answer session. And I would like to turn the call back over to Mr. Juan Domingo for closing remarks.
I'm so confused. 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.
With that, this concludes today's teleconference. You may now disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation and have a wonderful day.