Approximately USD13.9billion of rated debt affected
Milan, October 01, 2014 -- Moody's Investor Service has today affirmed the Baa1 long-term
senior unsecured ratings of SABMiller Plc (SABMiller), the provisional
(P)Baa1 rating of its medium-term note programme (MTN) and the
Baa1 senior unsecured ratings of its guaranteed subsidiaries. Concurrently,
Moody's also affirmed SABMiller's and its guaranteed subsidiaries
P-2 short-term ratings, the Baa1 issuer rating of
Foster's Group Pty Limited and the national scale ratings of Aa3.za/P-1.za
assigned to SABSA Holdings limited. The outlook has been changed
to positive.
RATINGS RATIONALE
"Today's change in outlook reflects the company's improvements in operating
performance and strengthened business profile over recent years and our
expectations that the company will further improve, albeit modestly,
its credit metrics," says Paolo Leschiutta, a Moody's Vice
President -- Senior Credit Officer and lead analyst for
SABMiller. "With financial leverage of 2.7x, measured
as Moody's-adjusted debt to EBITDA, and EBITA margins of
around 33% as of end of March 2014, SABMiller's credit
metrics are on the right trajectory for a rating transition within the
next 12 to 18 months," continued Mr. Leschiutta.
Despite soft beer volumes in developed markets and a reduced pace of growth
in emerging markets, SABMiller achieved 3% and 6%
organic revenue growth (including share of associates) in the fiscal year
ending (FYE) March 2014 and in the first quarter ending June 2014 respectively.
Reported figures have been significantly affected by the weakening local
currency in key markets such as South Africa. However the positive
momentum in volume growth in a number of emerging countries should continue
to support SABMiller's earnings growth and cash generation,
allowing the company to follow its deleveraging path.
SABMiller's ratings reflect the company's large scale and diversity
as the world's second largest brewing company by volume, its
international footprint and increased geographic diversification,
a good track record of integrating acquisitions and reducing leverage
and the company's strong margins and recurring cash flow from operations.
At the same time, the ratings factor in the company's exposure to
emerging markets, the difficult consumer environments in North America
and Western Europe, and the still weak, albeit expected to
improve cash flow coverage metrics (retained cash flow to net adjusted
debt of 19.9 % as of March 30, 2014).
Moody's notes the good geographic diversification of SABMiller's
markets with no single geographic area accounting for more than 28%
of reported net revenues and 34% of reported EBITA (including associates)
compensates for the somewhat higher volatility of emerging economies.
Moody's recognises that SABMiller's profitability and business profile
have improved significantly over the last three years and financial leverage
has reduced since the peak reported in 2011. The acquisition of
the Australian brewer Foster's in 2011 helped the company to balance
its presence between emerging and developed markets, while a strong
presence in Latin America and Asia allowed the company to increase its
EBITA margins (including share of MillerCoors profits) to around 33%
in FYE March 2014 on a Moody's-adjusted basis, only
modestly behind its bigger competitors Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NA
(A2 positive) recording a 36% margin at year end 2013.
In addition, the company's stable financial policy and solid
liquidity position supports Moody's expectation of continuing improvement
in key credits metric for the next 12-18 months. Moody's
expectations do not factor in any large debt funded acquisition,
or any significant shareholders returns, but positively notes SABMiller's
strong track record of integrating acquisitions and capability to reduce
its debt in a reasonable time.
RATIONALE FOR THE POSITIVE OUTLOOK
The positive outlook on SABMiller's Baa1 rating reflects Moody's expectation
that the group will (1) further succeed in improving group-wide
operating performance, in terms of top-line earnings and
profitability (also thanks to improving cost reduction and selective price
increases); and (2) continue to improve its key credit metrics over
the next 12-18 months, maintaining a conservative financial
policy and a solid liquidity profile at all times.
WHAT COULD CHANGE THE RATING - UP/DOWN
Positive pressure on SABMiller's ratings could follow if the company demonstrated
its ability and intention to maintain on an ongoing basis (1) financial
leverage, measured as debt/EBITDA (as adjusted by Moody's for operating
leases and pension deficit) around 2.5 x; and (2) a retained
cash flow (RCF) to net debt ratio in the mid-20s.
Negative pressure on SAB's ratings and outlook could arise in case of
a large debt-financed acquisition, significant increase in
shareholders' return or sustained growth reduction in key markets,
leading the company's credit metrics to deteriorate, with a financial
leverage above 3x, for a prolonged period, and EBITA margins
(including share of MillerCoors profits) significantly below 25%.
PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Global Alcoholic Beverage
Industry published in October 2013. Please see the Credit Policy
page on www.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
Moody's National Scale Credit Ratings (NSRs) are intended as relative
measures of creditworthiness among debt issues and issuers within a country,
enabling market participants to better differentiate relative risks.
NSRs differ from Moody's global scale credit ratings in that they are
not globally comparable with the full universe of Moody's rated entities,
but only with NSRs for other rated debt issues and issuers within the
same country. NSRs are designated by a ".nn"
country modifier signifying the relevant country, as in ".za"
for South Africa. For further information on Moody's approach to
national scale credit ratings, please refer to Moody's Credit rating
Methodology published in June 2014 entitled "Mapping Moody's National
Scale Ratings to Global Scale Ratings".
SABMiller plc is the world's second-largest brewer by volume,
producing and distributing a large variety of beer brands in approximately
75 countries. During FY ending March 2014, the company sold
245 million hectolitres of lager and 65 million hectolitres of soft drinks
(including the share of joint ventures and associates), up 1%
and 5% organically during the year, for total revenue (before
excise duties and share of associates and joint ventures) of USD22.3
billion (down 4% compared with the prior year).
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For ratings issued on a program, series or category/class of debt,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series
or category/class of debt or pursuant to a program for which the ratings
are derived exclusively from existing ratings in accordance with Moody's
rating practices. For ratings issued on a support provider,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the rating action on the support provider and in relation to each particular
rating action for securities that derive their credit ratings from the
support provider's credit rating. For provisional ratings,
this announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation
to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive
rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt,
in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed
prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would
have affected the rating. For further information please see the
ratings tab on the issuer/entity page for the respective issuer on www.moodys.com.
For any affected securities or rated entities receiving direct credit
support from the primary entity(ies) of this rating action, and
whose ratings may change as a result of this rating action, the
associated regulatory disclosures will be those of the guarantor entity.
Exceptions to this approach exist for the following disclosures,
if applicable to jurisdiction: Ancillary Services, Disclosure
to rated entity, Disclosure from rated entity.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit
rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating
review.
Please see www.moodys.com for any updates on changes to
the lead rating analyst and to the Moody's legal entity that has issued
the rating.
Please see the ratings tab on the issuer/entity page on www.moodys.com
for additional regulatory disclosures for each credit rating.
Paolo Leschiutta
VP - Senior Credit Officer
Corporate Finance Group
Moody's Italia S.r.l
Corso di Porta Romana 68
Milan 20122
Italy
Telephone:+39-02-9148-1100
Eric de Bodard
MD - Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance Group
JOURNALISTS: 44 20 7772 5456
SUBSCRIBERS: 44 20 7772 5454
Releasing Office:
Moody's Italia S.r.l
Corso di Porta Romana 68
Milan 20122
Italy
Telephone:+39-02-9148-1100
Moody's changes SABMiller's outlook to positive; affirms Baa1/P-2 ratings