Prepared remarks
Ladies and gentlemen, good day, everyone, and welcome to CCU's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call on the 7th of May 2026. Please note that today's conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the line over to Mr. Claudio Las Heras, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Welcome, and thank you for attending CCU's first quarter 2026 conference call. Today with me are Mr. Felipe Dubernet, Chief Financial Officer; Mr. Diego Mier y Terán, Financial Planning and Investor Relations Manager; and Mrs. Carolina Burgos, Senior Investor Relations Analyst. You have received a copy of the company's consolidated first quarter 2026 earnings release. The call, as usual, will start by reviewing our overall results, and then we will move on to a Q&A session. Before we begin, please take note of the following statements. The statements that we will make in this call that relate to CCU's future financial results are forward-looking statements, which, of course, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual performance or results to materially differ. These statements should be taken in conjunction with the additional information about risks and uncertainties set forth in CCU's annual report and in Form 20-F recently filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the quarterly report that's also available on the CMF and our website. It's now my pleasure to introduce our CFO, Mr. Felipe Dubernet.
Thank you, Claudio, and thank you all for joining the call today. We started the year 2026 with a strong set of results in Chile, our main operating segment, while we continue to face a soft consumption environment in Argentina and a particularly weak business context in the wine business. In terms of financial results, consolidated EBITDA was flat versus last year, growing 0.1% as the robust 13.7% EBITDA growth in the Chile operating segment was offset by contraction of 18.6% and 50.1% in the International business and Wine operating segment, respectively. In the quarter, consolidated net sales were flat, growing 0.2%, explained by 1.8% higher volumes, almost fully offset by 1.5% lower average prices in Chilean pesos. Consolidated volumes were driven by a 3.9% expansion in the Chile operating segment, more than offsetting the decreases of 1.7% and 5.9% in the International business and Wine operating segment, respectively. Lower average prices in Chilean pesos were mostly due to a negative currency translation effect in Argentina coming from the 28.7% depreciation of the Argentine peso against the U.S. dollar being partially compensated by revenue management initiatives. Gross profit grew by 1.4% and gross margin improved 55 basis points, mainly due to lower direct cost and efficiencies. MSD&A expenses were practically flat in Chilean pesos, offsetting with efficiencies, other expense pressures and restructuring costs in Argentina. As a percentage of net sales, MSD&A grew 23 basis points. In all, EBITDA margin was stable at 16.1%. Net income was down 6.8% from last year. In terms of our operating segment, in Chile, top line expanded 3.9%, explained by higher volumes as average prices were flat. Higher volumes were driven by high single-digit growth of nonalcoholic categories and overall market share gains in alcoholic and nonalcoholic categories. Alcohol products, which encompasses in this segment beer and spirits, decreased low single digits, although flavored low-alcohol ready-to-drink products volumes grew low double digits. Flat average prices were a consequence of a mix effect in the portfolio, mainly due to the growth in nonalcoholic, particularly in water. Gross profit increased 10.2% and gross margin rose 278 basis points compared to last year, mainly driven by lower costs coming from the 8.1% appreciation of the Chilean peso against the U.S. dollar, impacting primarily our U.S. dollar-denominated costs, and efficiency gains in procurement and manufacturing costs, partially offset by higher aluminum prices. MSD&A expenses as a percentage of net sales grew 31 basis points. Altogether, EBITDA increased 13.7% and EBITDA margin was up by 173 basis points, reaching 20.0% EBITDA margin. In the International business operating segment, net sales recorded a 6.7% decrease driven by 5.1% lower average prices in Chilean pesos and a 1.7% contraction in volumes. Lower average prices in Chilean pesos were a consequence of a negative currency translation effect in Argentina and negative mix effect, partially offset by price actions in line with inflation on a year-to-date basis, although still lagging annual inflation in this country. Volumes in these segments were below last year, explained by Argentina by a mid-single-digit contraction in beer in a stable market share scenario, partially offset by a low single-digit decrease in the nonalcoholic category. As a result of the challenging scenario in Argentina, gross profit contracted 10.7% in Chilean pesos and gross margin decreased by 218 basis points due to cost pressures. MSD&A expenses as a percentage of net sales decreased 54 basis points due to efficiencies. In all, EBITDA contracted 18.6%. Excluding the before-mentioned restructuring cost in Argentina, EBITDA would have contracted 10.4%. The Wine operating segment posted a top line drop of 7.2%, mostly driven by 5.9% lower volumes and 1.4% lower average prices. Weaker volumes were explained by the contraction in both exports and our domestic markets, in line with the industry. The lower average prices were mostly as a result of the appreciation of the Chilean peso against the U.S. dollar and its unfavorable impact on export revenues together with mix effect, partially offset by revenue management initiatives in domestic markets. Gross profit was down 21.8% and gross margin deteriorated by 589 basis points, mostly due to higher cost of wine. MSD&A expenses as a percentage of net sales were flat. Altogether, EBITDA decreased 50.1% and EBITDA margin was down 508 basis points. Regarding our main joint venture and associated business, in Colombia, we posted mid-teens volume growth during the quarter, continuing on a positive path of building business scale. We are focused on building brand equity to enhance profitable growth in the future in this country. Now I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.
Questions and answers
Our first question comes from Mr. Fernando Olvera from Bank of America.
The first one is related to Chile. If you can explain or give us some color what were the drivers of the high single-digit growth of nonalcoholic drinks? And how do you expect volume to behave in the quarters ahead?
Okay. Fernando, would you like to ask the second question now? You have two questions.
Okay. Sure. The second question is regarding the solid gross margin expansion that you delivered this quarter. How are you thinking about costs for the remainder of the year, considering the volatility of aluminum prices and the strength of the Chilean peso? I mean, both questions are related to Chile.
Okay. Thank you, Fernando, for your question. First, your first question regarding the good expansions we have had in the nonalcoholic category. I would say that there are differences between products in terms of growth. As you know, soft drinks in Chile have a high per capita consumption compared to the rest of Latin America. So this category particularly grew flat or very low single digit. However, the rest of the categories show a very good growth, especially driven by water. This, I think, is more related to consumer trends, some innovation we have had and continued growth of enhanced water or flavored water with natural juices such as the Mas brand. In fact, in all this category of water that also encompasses enhanced water, we grew double digit. There are other liquids that regained growth such as juices growing mid-single digit, and also the functional ones that we would highlight: energy drinks and sports drinks. So I would say very low growth in soft drinks, however very high growth in the rest of the portfolio. It's more related to consumer trends; particularly very good growth in the nonalcoholic category in Chile. Going forward, I would say it's difficult to forecast, especially when the consumer is under pressure given increases in oil and inflationary pressures. So it's difficult to say how this would evolve going forward because, as you know, particularly in Chile, oil prices and gasoline prices were passed through to the consumer very quickly. Linking with your second question, it's a very volatile scenario not only for us in terms of input cost, but also for the consumer in terms of how their own costs evolve and how this would impact demand for our products. But so far, very good results in the nonalcoholic category. Regarding input cost, I would highlight that it's not only aluminum but also oil prices that impact our distribution costs. These are the main drivers of higher input costs that we are currently experiencing, linked also with all the plastic-related packaging materials such as PET, polyethylene and polypropylene that we use, especially for packaging. So as you mentioned, we delivered a solid gross margin in Chile, driven by, of course, the appreciation of the Chilean peso, but also efficiencies in manufacturing and in procurement. Going forward, I would say every day is different: today I saw Bloomberg and oil prices were down 5%, but maybe in a week we could have plus 5%. So it's very volatile. However, we have taken actions since the beginning of this rally on prices, especially as you mentioned aluminum but also oil, and we have at the end of March and in April increased prices across the portfolio.
Our next question comes from Constanza Gonzalez from Quest Capital.
I have two questions. The first concern is about Chile EBITDA margin. Are there any strengths that can be replicable for the rest of the year? Are these levels sustainable for the remainder of 2026? And my second question is regarding Argentina. Do you expect a recovery in volumes in the coming quarters?
Yes. Regarding EBITDA margin, as you mentioned, yes, we have had a nice expansion in terms of EBITDA margin because we had overall better prices than last year in the categories; we suffered from mix effect, which is logical when you sell more nonalcoholic than alcoholic products — of course that will have an impact on price per ton. Also unit cost helped us during the first quarter. Going forward, I repeat what I answered to Fernando Olvera in the previous question. At the end, we are suffering from a very volatile scenario. We are trying to do everything to compensate these new input costs, but we need to be careful because it's a balance between volume and price. As I mentioned, we increased prices in Chile at the end of March and beginning of April in all the categories. And also, we are searching for additional efficiencies in order to compensate the effect. But it's very volatile and it's too early until the conflict is not reaching an end; we are still suffering from volatility in oil prices and also aluminum prices and other packaging materials, as I said, where it is difficult to do a proper forecast. Of course, we have scenarios internally. But so far with the price increases we did, more or less, we are able to compensate. However, as I mentioned, we could face a softer consumer: the consumer not only consumes or buys our products, but has other needs, for example, to run the car, and now he is paying more for gasoline. So we need to be very careful. Regarding Argentina volumes, yes, the first quarter was soft. We decreased our nonalcoholic volumes mid-single digit. However, the first quarter of last year was a very high comparison. In the following quarters, I'm sure we will see growth when you compare quarter 2 against quarter 2, quarter 3 against quarter 3 and quarter 4 against quarter 4. This is related because the last nine months of last year were particularly weak in Argentina. Now I think we face a more stable macroeconomic situation since then, however with a lot of inflationary pressures. We have high inflation in Argentina. We have been able so far to increase prices in line with inflation as we had a lag from last year. Last year, our price increases were below inflation. So overall, in Argentina, I would say we have more favorable comps. However, we don't see an extraordinarily strong recovery; it is more stable so far.
I have a follow-up question. Can you give us a sensitivity in EBITDA according to the volatility in oil prices?
Yes, I would say in terms of the impact of oil prices, we have direct effects because all the contracts and the drivers are particularly linked to oil prices, such as distribution cost. This has a significant impact and other costs such as gas that is very energy intensive. I would say that each $30 per barrel increase in oil is about $30 million direct impact on EBITDA, but this could be compensated on the other hand by the appreciation of the Chilean peso. Each 1% of appreciation of the Chilean peso is about $4 million. So if we have 10% appreciation of the Chilean peso, we are talking about a significant magnitude to compensate. But the net effect will depend on how these variables evolve given the volatility we are seeing today.
We have a follow-up question from Fernando Olvera from Bank of America.
I have just a quick one regarding the wine business. If you can share what is your outlook for the remainder of the year? And if you have seen any signs that suggest volume stabilization or even a recovery of the market.
Thank you, Fernando. I would say overall that wine consumption in the world, and Chile is not the exception, is declining. In the end we need to think differently when it comes to innovation in order to focus on key markets and key products or key brands, especially in the domestic market. The outlook going forward: I would say the export business is different than the domestic one. I think the domestic one will continue to experience a decline, but this decline could be transferred to beer consumption or to other kinds of alcoholic beverages such as low-alcohol ready-to-drink flavored alcoholic products — it's a switch of the consumer. So I would say the outlook is not positive in our view because at the end we are experiencing what the world is experiencing in terms of this particular category. However, there are opportunities in the export market as there will certainly be consolidation in the industry, and we have enough scale to operate in different markets in the export business. So in terms of export market share of Chilean wine in the world, I would say we will be growing. In the domestic market, I would say it is more declining, but we will focus on more profitable products and on innovation.
Okay. Felipe, in that regard, have you considered selling the wine business?
No. No, because it has synergies, especially in the domestic market. And as I said, the export business will be improving profitability and market share. Also consider that the wine business, particularly this year, is very affected by cyclical wine cost. The last harvest was almost normal; however, this year we have a particularly perfect storm: lower consumption globally and particularly in the domestic business, but we have very high market share. So as I said, the strategy is to focus more on a more profitable portfolio, doing efficiencies, because in the route-to-market we have synergies so far.
Okay. Great.
We have a question from Santiago Petri from Franklin Templeton.
Can you please provide us volume breakdown in percentage terms between alcoholic and nonalcoholic in Chile and international?
No. Santiago, thank you for the question. As we stated in the press release, we made the disclosure between how much was the growth between alcoholic and nonalcoholic. That's why in the nonalcoholic category we grew high single digit, and in alcoholic we declined low single digit. On the other hand, particularly in Chile, we gained market share in both alcoholic and nonalcoholic products. In the other important market, Argentina, we also stated that we decreased alcoholic volumes mid-single digit and grew the nonalcoholic portfolio low single digit. So that's the scope.
Okay. It looks like we have no further questions at this point. I'll be passing the line back to the management and IR team for the concluding remarks.
Thank you to you all for attending this conference call. In summary, during the first quarter of 2026, we delivered a robust performance in Chile, our main operating segment, and faced a challenging business environment in Argentina and particularly in the wine business. Looking forward, we will continue working on the execution of CCU's 2025-2027 Strategic Plan and its three pillars: profitability, growth and sustainability, which will be crucial to face the singular moment that the global economy is going through given current geopolitical conflicts, which have materially increased costs globally and increased inflationary pressures. Our company is not exempt from this, forcing us to act with caution and deploy our resiliency and adaptation capacity to navigate this uncertain and volatile scenario. CCU already took proactive revenue management actions at the end of the quarter, and we will continue reinforcing efficiency efforts and managing CapEx priorities. All of these initiatives aim to offset the negative impact of the current scenario. Thank you to you all, and I wish you a wonderful afternoon.
Thank you very much. This concludes today's conference call. We'll now be closing all the lines. Thank you, and goodbye.