Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE: TAP) reported Q1 EPS of $0.52, $0.06 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.58. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.3 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.33 billion.

• Net Sales Revenue of $2.3 billion, Decreased 1.2%, Increased 0.6% in Constant Currency
• Lower U.S. GAAP Net Income Driven by One-Time $328 Million Purchase Price Settlement Gain in 2018 Underlying EBITDA Decreased 0.9%, Increased 0.2% in Constant Currency
• EPS (U.S. GAAP) of $0.70 Decreased 45.3%, and Underlying EPS (Non-GAAP) of $0.52 Increased 8.3%
• Management Reaffirms Increased Dividend Expectations Remains Committed to Free Cash Flow and Cost Savings Targets, as well as Further Deleveraging in 2019

“Our first quarter was solid, delivering on our commitment to improving top-line performance while also protecting the bottom line. Even with industry volume pressure in North America and the shift of Easter from Q1 to Q2, revenue was up on a constant currency basis, driven by strong and disciplined net sales revenue per hectoliter growth across our business, ongoing portfolio premiumization, and improving share trends in our largest market.”

Mark continued, “While only the first and smallest of our quarters, I am encouraged by the meaningful growth of net sales revenue in the U.S., led by the increasingly strong performance of Miller Lite which held total beer industry share and an improved performance of Coors Light in our largest and most profitable market, as well as strong U.S. retailer placements for our upweighted innovation program. We also saw continuing strong net sales revenue growth in Europe, our second largest business unit. Across Molson Coors I am pleased with the continuing acceleration of our portfolio premiumization efforts alongside our intensified innovation program, and the growth in our underlying EBITDA, which, despite higher inflation, grew on a constant currency basis.”

2019 Outlook

We currently expect to achieve the following guidance for full year 2019:

• Underlying free cash flow: $1.4 billion, plus or minus 10%.
• Capital spending: approximately $700 million, plus or minus 10%.
• Cost savings: approximately $700 million for the 2017 to 2019 program.
• Consolidated underlying COGS per hectoliter: mid-single digit increase on a constant currency basis.
• Underlying corporate MG&A expense: approximately $180 million, plus or minus 10%.
• Underlying depreciation and amortization: approximately $850 million, versus $827 million in 2018, primarily due to planned information systems implementations in the U.S.
• Consolidated net interest expense: approximately $300 million, plus or minus 5%.
• International: strong double digit percentage increase to underlying EBITDA in constant currency.
• Underlying effective tax rate in the range of 18% to 22% for 2019, which remains subject to additional definitive guidance from the U.S. government regarding the implementation of the 2017 tax reform legislation. Our preliminary expectation for our long-term effective tax rate (after 2019) is in the range of 20% to 24%.
• Deleverage & Dividend: We remain committed to maintaining our investment grade debt rating and we intend to continue to deleverage further in 2019 in accordance with our plans. Our board\'s intention remains to reinstitute a dividend payout-ratio in the range of 20% to 25% of annual trailing underlying EBITDA for the second half of 2019 and ongoing thereafter.

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Molson Coors Brewing (TAP) click here.