PART I

Notes:

B. CAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS

Not applicable.

C. REASONS FOR THE OFFER AND USE OF PROCEEDS

Not applicable.

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D. RISK FACTORS

Investing in our shares involves risk. We expect to be exposed to some or all of the risks described below in our future operations. Such risks include, but are not limited to, the risk factors described below. Any of the risk factors described below, as well as additional risks of which we are not currently aware, could also affect our business operations and have a material adverse effect on our business activities, financial condition, results of operations and prospects and cause the value of our shares to decline. Moreover, if and to the extent that any of the risks described below materialize, they may occur in combination with other risks which would compound the adverse effect of such risks on our business activities, financial condition, results of operations and prospects. Investors in our shares and American Depositary Shares (“ADSs”) could lose all or part of their investment.

You should carefully consider the following information in conjunction with the other information contained or incorporated by reference in this document. The sequence in which the risk factors are presented below is not indicative of their likelihood of occurrence or of the potential magnitude of their financial consequences.

Risks Relating to Our Business

We are exposed to the risks of an economic recession, credit and capital markets volatility and economic and financial crisis (including as a result of the COVID-19 virus pandemic), which could adversely affect the demand for our products and adversely affect the market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs.

We are exposed to the risk of a global recession or a recession in one or more of our key markets, credit and capital markets volatility and an economic or financial crisis, or otherwise, which could result in reduced consumption or sales prices of our products, which in turn could result in lower revenue and reduced profit. Our financial condition and results of operations, as well as our future prospects, would likely be hindered by an economic downturn in any of our key markets.

Consumption of beer and other alcohol and non-alcohol beverages in many of the jurisdictions in which we operate is closely linked to general economic conditions, with levels of consumption tending to rise during periods of rising per capita income and fall during periods of declining per capita income. Additionally, per capita consumption is inversely related to the sale price of our products.

Besides moving in concert with changes in per capita income, beer and other alcoholic beverage consumption also increases or decreases in accordance with changes in disposable income.

Currently, disposable income is low in many of the developing countries in which we operate compared to disposable income in more developed countries. Any decrease in disposable income resulting from an increase in inflation, income taxes, the cost of living, unemployment levels, political or economic instability or other factors would likely adversely affect the demand for beer. Moreover, because a relevant portion of our brand portfolio consists of premium and core beers, our volumes and revenue may be impacted to a greater degree than those of some of our competitors, as some consumers may choose to purchase value or discount brands rather than premium or core brands. For additional information on the categorization of the beer market and our positioning, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—2. Principal Activities and Products—Beer.”

Capital and credit market volatility, such as that experienced in recent years, may result in downward pressure on stock prices and the credit capacity of issuers. Potential changes in social, political, regulatory and economic conditions in the U.S. and the European Union, including as a result of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union and changes in policies governing foreign trade and imports, may be significant drivers of capital and credit market volatility. The COVID-19 virus pandemic has resulted in significant financial market volatility and uncertainty in recent weeks. A continuation or worsening of the levels of market disruption and volatility seen in the recent past could have an adverse effect on our ability to access capital, on our business, results of operations and financial condition, and on the market price of our Ordinary Shares and our ADSs.

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Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may lead to volatility in our results of operations.

Although we report our consolidated results in U.S. dollars, in 2019, we derived 69.8% of our revenue from operating companies that have non-U.S. dollar functional currencies (in most cases, in the local currency of the respective operating company). Consequently, any change in exchange rates between our operating companies’ functional currencies and the U.S. dollar will affect our consolidated income statement and balance sheet when the results of those operating companies are translated into U.S. dollars for our reporting purposes, as we cannot hedge against translational exposures. Decreases in the value of our operating companies’ functional currencies against the U.S. dollar will tend to reduce those operating companies’ contributions in dollar terms to our financial condition and results of operations.

During 2019, several currencies, such as the Argentinean peso, the Australian dollar, the Brazilian real, the Colombian peso, the Mexican peso and the South African rand, depreciated against the U.S. dollar, which generally strengthened during the same period. Our total consolidated revenue was USD 52.3 billion for the year ended 31 December 2019, a decrease of USD 0.7 billion compared to the year ended 31 December 2018. The negative impact of unfavorable currency translation effects on our consolidated revenue in the year ended 31 December 2019 was USD 2.7 billion, primarily as a result of the impact of the currencies listed above.

Following the categorization of Argentina as a country with a three-year cumulative inflation rate greater than 100%, the country is considered as a hyperinflationary economy in accordance with IFRS rules (IAS 29 Financial Reporting in Hyperinflationary Economies), requiring us to restate the results of our operations for the years ended 31 December 2019 and 2018 in hyperinflationary economies for the change in the general purchasing power of the local currency, using official indices before converting the local amounts at the closing rate of the period. If the economic or political situation in Argentina further deteriorates, our Latin America South operations may be subject to restrictions under new Argentinean foreign exchange, export repatriation or expropriation regimes that could adversely affect our liquidity and operations, and our ability to access funds from Argentina. See “—We are exposed to developing market risks, including the risks of devaluation, nationalization and inflation” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—A. Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations—Foreign Currency.”

Significant changes in the value of foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar could adversely affect the amounts we record for our foreign assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses, and could have a negative effect on our results of operations and profitability. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—E. Results of Operations—Year Ended 31 December 2019 Compared to the Year Ended 31 December 2018” for further details on the impact of currency translation effects on our results of operations.

In addition to currency translation risk, we incur currency transaction risks whenever one of our operating companies enters into transactions using currencies other than its respective functional currency, including purchase or sale transactions and the issuance or incurrence of debt. Although we have hedging policies in place to manage commodity price and foreign currency risks to protect our exposure to currencies other than our operating companies’ functional currencies, there can be no assurance that such policies will be able to successfully hedge against the effects of such foreign exchange exposure.

Much of our debt is denominated in U.S. dollars, while a significant portion of our cash flows is denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. From time to time we enter into financial instruments to mitigate currency risk, but these transactions and any other efforts taken to better match the effective currencies of our liabilities to our cash flows could result in increased costs. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Market Risk, Hedging and Financial Instruments,” note 29 to our audited restated consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2019 and 2018, and for the three years ended 31 December 2019, for further details on our approach to hedging commodity price and foreign currency risk.

Changes in the availability or price of raw materials, commodities, energy and water, including as a result of unexpected increases in tariffs on such raw materials and commodities, like aluminum, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

A significant portion of our operating expenses is related to raw materials and commodities, such as malted barley, wheat, corn grits, corn syrup, rice, hops, yeast, flavored concentrate, fruit concentrate, sugar, sweetener, water, glass, polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) and aluminum bottles, aluminum or steel cans and kegs, aluminum can stock, labels, plastic crates, metal and plastic closures, folding cartons, cardboard products and plastic films.

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The supply and price of raw materials and commodities used for the production of our products can be affected by a number of factors beyond our control, including the level of crop production around the world, export demand, quality and availability of supply, speculative movements in the raw materials or commodities markets, currency fluctuations, governmental regulations and legislation affecting agriculture, trade agreements among producing and consuming nations, adverse weather conditions, natural disasters, economic factors affecting growth decisions, political developments, various plant diseases and pests.

We cannot predict future availability or prices of the raw materials or commodities required for our products. The markets in certain raw materials or commodities have experienced and may in the future experience shortages and significant price fluctuations, including as a result of unexpected increases in tariffs on such raw materials and commodities like aluminum. The foregoing may affect the price and availability of ingredients that we use to manufacture our products, as well as the cans and bottles in which our products are packaged. We may not be able to increase our prices to offset these increased costs or increase our prices without suffering reduced volume, revenue and operating income. To some extent, derivative financial instruments and the terms of supply agreements can protect against increases in materials and commodities costs in the short term. However, derivatives and supply agreements expire and upon expiry are subject to renegotiation and therefore cannot provide complete protection over the medium or longer term. To the extent we fail to adequately manage the risks inherent in such volatility, including if our hedging and derivative arrangements do not effectively or completely hedge against changes in commodity prices, our results of operations may be adversely impacted. In addition, it is possible that the hedging and derivative instruments we use to establish the purchase price for commodities in advance of the time of delivery may lock us into prices that are ultimately higher than actual market prices at the time of delivery. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Market Risk, Hedging and Financial Instruments” for further details on our approach to hedging commodity price risk.

The production and distribution of our products require material amounts of energy, including the consumption of oil-based products, natural gas, biomass, coal and electricity. Energy prices have been subject to significant price volatility in the recent past and may be again in the future. High energy prices over an extended period of time, as well as changes in energy taxation and regulation in certain geographies, may result in a negative effect on operating income and could potentially challenge our profitability in certain markets. There is no guarantee that we will be able to pass along increased energy costs to our customers in every case.

The production of our products also requires large amounts of water, including water consumption in the agricultural supply chain. Changes in precipitation patterns and the frequency of extreme weather events may affect our water supply and, as a result, our physical operations. Water may also be subject to price increases in certain areas and changes in water taxation and regulation in certain geographies may result in a negative effect on operating income which could potentially challenge our profitability in certain markets. There is no guarantee that we will be able to pass along increased water costs to our customers in every case. See “—Climate change or other environmental concerns, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change or other environmental concerns, may negatively affect our business or operations, including the availability of key production inputs.”

We may not be able to obtain the necessary funding for our future capital or refinancing needs and may face financial risks due to our level of debt, uncertain market conditions and as a result of the potential downgrading of our credit ratings.

We may be required to raise additional funds for our future capital needs or to refinance our current indebtedness and future indebtedness through public or private financing, strategic relationships or other arrangements. There can be no assurance that the funding, if needed, will be available or provided on attractive terms.

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Following the combination with SAB, the portion of our consolidated balance sheet represented by debt is significantly higher as compared to former AB InBev’s historical position and we expect it to remain so for some time. To fund the combination with SAB, former AB InBev entered into, among others, the following transactions:

Since the combination with SAB we have undertaken further debt issuance and debt liability management exercises; see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—G. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Funding Sources—Borrowings” for more information on our financing activities.

Our continued increased level of debt could have significant consequences, including:

In addition, ratings agencies may downgrade our credit ratings below their current levels, including as a result of the incurrence of financial indebtedness related to the combination with SAB. In October 2018, Moody’s Investors Service placed AB InBev’s A3 senior unsecured ratings on review to downgrade, citing downward rating pressure due to high financial leverage and our slow path to deleveraging following the October 2016 acquisition of SAB. In December 2018, Moody’s Investors Service concluded its ratings review and assigned a definitive rating of Baa1 (stable outlook) to AB InBev’s long-term debt obligations. As of the date of this annual report, our credit rating from Standard & Poor’s (“S&P”) Global Ratings was A- for long-term obligations and A-2 for short-term obligations, with a stable outlook, and our credit rating from Moody’s Investors Service was Baa1 for long-term obligations and P-2 for short-term obligations, with a stable outlook. Any credit rating downgrade could materially adversely affect our ability to finance our ongoing operations and our ability to refinance the debt incurred to fund the combination with SAB, including by increasing our cost of borrowing and significantly harming our financial condition, results of operations and profitability, including our ability to refinance our other existing indebtedness.

In recent years, we have given priority, among other things, to deleveraging, with surplus free cash flow being used to reduce the level of outstanding debt. In light of the increased debt we assumed in connection with the combination with SAB, deleveraging remains a priority and may restrict the amount of dividends we are able to pay.

Our ability to repay and renegotiate our outstanding indebtedness will depend upon market conditions. In recent years, the global credit markets experienced significant price volatility, dislocations and liquidity disruptions that caused the cost of debt financings to fluctuate considerably. The markets also put downward pressure on stock prices and credit capacity for certain issuers without regard to those issuers’ underlying financial strength.

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Reflecting concern about the stability of the financial markets generally and the strength of counterparties, many lenders and institutional investors reduced and, in some cases, ceased to provide funding to borrowers. If such uncertain conditions persist, our costs could increase beyond what is anticipated. Such costs could have a material adverse impact on our cash flows, results of operations or both. In addition, an inability to refinance all or a substantial amount of our debt obligations when they become due, or more generally a failure to raise additional equity capital or debt financing or to realize proceeds from asset sales when needed, would have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Our results could be negatively affected by increasing interest rates or by the future discontinuance of certain interest rate benchmarks.

We use issuances of debt and bank borrowings as a source of funding and we carry a significant level of debt. Nevertheless, pursuant to our capital structure policy, we aim to optimize shareholder value through cash flow distribution to us from our subsidiaries, while maintaining an investment-grade rating and minimizing cash and investments with a return below our weighted average cost of capital. There can be no assurance that we will be able to pursue a similar capital structure policy in the future.

Some of the debt we have issued or incurred was issued or incurred at variable interest rates, which exposes us to changes in such interest rates. As of 31 December 2019, after certain hedging and fair value adjustments, USD 9.7 billion, or 9.4%, of our interest-bearing financial liabilities (which include loans, borrowings and bank overdrafts) bore a variable interest rate, while USD 93.4 billion, or 90.6%, bore a fixed interest rate. Moreover, a significant part of our external debt is denominated in non-U.S. dollar currencies, including the Australian dollar, the Brazilian real, the Canadian dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, the South African rand and the South Korean won. Although we enter into interest rate swap agreements to manage our interest rate risk, and also enter into cross-currency interest rate swap agreements to manage both our foreign currency risk and interest-rate risk on interest-bearing financial liabilities, there can be no assurance that such instruments will be successful in reducing the risks inherent in exposures to interest rate fluctuations. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Market Risk, Hedging and Financial Instruments,” note 29 to our audited restated consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2019 and 2018, and for the three years ended 31 December 2019 for further details on our approach, currency and interest rate risk.

In addition, our variable rate indebtedness and interest rate swap agreements may use the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”), the Euro Interbank Offered Rate (“EURIBOR”), or other benchmarks as a reference for establishing the interest rate. On 27 July 2017, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority announced that it will no longer persuade or compel banks to submit rates for the calculation of the LIBOR benchmark after 2021 and, on 12 July 2018, announced that the LIBOR benchmark may cease to be a regulated benchmark under the relevant European legislation. Such announcements indicate that the continuation of LIBOR on the current basis (or at all) cannot and will not be guaranteed after 2021. Separate workstreams are also underway in Europe to reform EURIBOR using a hybrid methodology and to provide a fallback by reference to a euro risk-free rate (based on a euro overnight risk-free rate as adjusted by a methodology to create a term rate).

At this time, it is not possible to predict the effect of any establishment of alternative reference rates or any other reforms to LIBOR and EURIBOR. Uncertainty as to the nature of such alternative reference rates or other reforms may adversely affect the trading market for LIBOR-linked securities. The potential elimination of benchmarks, such as LIBOR, the establishment of alternative reference rates or changes in the manner of administration of a benchmark could also require adjustments to the terms of our benchmark-linked securities, and may result in other consequences such as market volatility or disruption and an increase in the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.

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Certain of our operations depend on independent distributors or wholesalers to sell our products, and we may be unable to replace distributors or acquire interests in wholesalers or distributors. In addition, we may be adversely impacted by the consolidation of retailers.

Certain of our operations are dependent on effective distribution networks to deliver our products to consumers, and distributors play an important role in distributing a significant proportion of beer and other beverages. Generally, distributors purchase our products from us and then on-sell them either to other distributors or points of sale. Such distributors are either government-controlled or privately owned but independent wholesale distributors for distribution of our products. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—7. Distribution of Products” and “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—11. Regulations Affecting Our Business” for further information in this respect. There can be no assurance as to the financial affairs of such distributors or that these distributors, who often act both for us and our competitors, will not give our competitors’ products higher priority, thereby reducing their efforts to sell our products.

In the United States, for instance, we sell the vast majority of our beer to independent wholesalers for distribution to retailers and ultimately consumers. As independent companies, wholesalers make their own business decisions that may not always align themselves with our interests. If our wholesalers do not effectively distribute our products, our financial results could be adversely affected.

In addition, contractual restrictions and the regulatory environment of many markets may make it very difficult to change distributors and, in some markets, we may be prevented from acquiring interests in wholesalers or distributors (for example, see “—Our failure to satisfy our obligations under the SAB settlement agreement could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.”). In certain cases, poor performance by a distributor or wholesaler is not a sufficient reason for replacement. Such distributors could engage in practices that harm our reputation as consumers look to us for the quality and availability of our products. Our consequent inability to replace unproductive or inefficient distributors could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Moreover, the retail industry, particularly in Europe, North America and other countries in which we operate, continues to consolidate, resulting in larger retailers with increased purchasing power, which may affect our competitiveness in these markets. Larger retailers may seek to improve their profitability and sales by asking for lower prices or increased trade spending. The efforts of retailers could result in reduced profitability for the beer industry as a whole and indirectly adversely affect our financial results.

We may be unable to influence our associates in which we have minority investments.

A portion of our global portfolio consists of associates in new or developing markets, including investments where we may have a lesser degree of control over the business operations. For example, through our investment in the beverage operations of Société des Brasseries et Glacières Internationales and B.I.H. Brasseries Internationales Holding Limited, we have exposure to a number of countries in Africa; through our investment in Anadolu Efes, we have exposure to Turkey and countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States; and through our investment in AB InBev Efes, we have exposure to Russia and Ukraine.

We face several challenges inherent to these various culturally and geographically diverse business interests. Although we work with our associates on the implementation of appropriate processes and controls, we also face additional risks and uncertainties with respect to these minority investments because we may be dependent on systems, controls and personnel that are not under our control, such as the risk that our associates may violate applicable laws and regulations, which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, results of operations and financial condition. For more information, see “—If we do not successfully comply with applicable anti-corruption laws, export control regulations and trade restrictions, we could become subject to fines, penalties or other regulatory sanctions, as well as to adverse press coverage, which could cause our reputation, our sales or our profitability to suffer.”

We may have a conflict of interest with our majority-owned subsidiaries and we may not be able to resolve such conflict on terms favorable to us.

Conflicts of interest may arise between us and certain of our subsidiaries in various situations due to our status as parent company of such majority-owned subsidiaries and interests that may differ from ours. Notwithstanding policies and procedures to address the possibility of such conflicts of interest, we may not be able to resolve all such conflicts on terms favorable to us.

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We have entered into various agreements with our subsidiaries. Notwithstanding the influence that we have over such subsidiaries, we may not be able to use it to prevent them from bringing a legal claim against us in the event of a contractual breach. As a result, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected.

Additionally, certain of our directors and/or our senior management may also be managers or senior officers in certain of our subsidiaries. Since our interests and the ones of the relevant subsidiaries are not necessarily always the same or wholly aligned, such dual mandates and other relationships with our subsidiaries or related parties may in the future result in conflicts of interest.

We rely on key third parties, including key suppliers, and the termination or modification of the arrangements with such third parties could negatively affect our business.

We rely on third-party suppliers for a range of raw materials for our beer and non-beer products, such as malted barley, corn grits, corn syrup, rice, hops, yeast, water, flavored concentrate, fruit concentrate, sugar and sweeteners, and for packaging material, such as glass, PET and aluminum bottles, aluminum or steel cans and kegs, labels, plastic crates, metal and plastic closures, folding cartons, cardboard products and plastic films.

We seek to limit our exposure to market fluctuations in the supply of these raw materials by entering into medium- and long-term fixed-price arrangements. We have a limited number of suppliers of aluminum cans and glass bottles. Consolidation of the aluminum can industry and glass bottle industry in certain markets in which we operate has reduced local supply alternatives and increased the risk of disruption to aluminum can and glass bottle supplies. Although we generally have other suppliers of raw materials and packaging materials, the termination of or any material change to arrangements with certain key suppliers, disagreements with suppliers as to payment or other terms, or the failure of a key supplier to meet the contractual obligations it owes to us or otherwise deliver materials consistent with current usage would or may require us to make purchases from alternative suppliers, in each case at potentially higher prices or lower quality than those agreed with that supplier. Additionally, we may be subject to potential reputational damage if one of our suppliers violates applicable laws or regulations or our internal policies, or fails to meet certain quality standards. These factors could have a material impact on our production, distribution and sale of beer, other alcoholic beverages and soft drinks and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

A number of our key brand names are both licensed to third-party brewers and used by companies over which we do not have control. See “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—8. Licensing.” If we are unable to maintain such arrangements on favorable terms, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

We monitor brewing quality to ensure our high standards, but, to the extent that one of these key licensed brand names is subject to negative publicity, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

For certain packaging supplies and raw materials, we rely on a small number of important suppliers. In addition, certain of our subsidiaries may purchase nearly all of their key packaging materials from sole suppliers under multi-year contracts. The loss of or temporary discontinuity of supply from any of these suppliers without sufficient time to develop an alternative source could cause us to spend increased amounts on such supplies in the future. If these suppliers became unable to continue to meet our requirements, and we are unable to develop alternative sources of supply, our operations and financial results could be adversely affected.

We may be unsuccessful in identifying suitable acquisition targets or business partners or implementing our acquisitions, divestitures, investments, joint ventures or alliances, which may negatively impact our growth strategy.

In the past, we have made acquisitions of, investments in and joint ventures and similar arrangements with other companies and businesses. Much of our growth in recent years is attributable to such transactions, including the combination with SAB in 2016, the combination of AB InBev and Grupo Modelo in 2013, the combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch Companies in 2008 and the combination of Interbrew S.A. and Ambev in 2004.

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We will need to identify suitable acquisition targets and agree on the terms with them if we are to make further acquisitions. Our size, contractual limitations to which we are subject and our position in the markets in which we operate may make it harder to identify suitable targets, including because it may be harder for us to obtain regulatory approval for future transactions. If appropriate opportunities do become available, we may seek to acquire or invest in other businesses; however, any future acquisition may pose regulatory, antitrust and other risks.

On 19 July 2019, we announced an agreement to divest our Australia business (Carlton & United Breweries) to Asahi Group Holdings, Ltd. (“Asahi”) for AUD 16.0 billion, equivalent to approximately USD 11.2 billion¹. The parties continue to cooperate with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) with a view to obtaining the necessary approvals and closing the transaction as soon as possible in the second quarter of 2020.

In addition, after completion of any transaction in the future, we may be required to integrate the acquired companies, businesses or operations into our existing operations. There is a risk that such integration will not be successful or will involve greater costs or result in fewer synergies than expected. Such transactions may also involve the assumption of certain actual or potential, known or unknown liabilities, which may have a potential impact on our financial risk profile. These risks and limitations may limit our ability to implement our global strategy and our ability to achieve or maintain future business growth.

The ability of our subsidiaries to distribute cash upstream may be subject to various conditions and limitations.

To a large extent, we are organized as a holding company and our operations are carried out through subsidiaries. Our domestic and foreign subsidiaries’ and affiliated companies’ ability to upstream or distribute cash (to be used, among other things, to meet our financial obligations) through dividends, intercompany advances, management fees and other payments is, to a large extent, dependent on the availability of cash flows at the level of such domestic and foreign subsidiaries and affiliated companies, and may be restricted by applicable laws and accounting principles. In particular, 25.4% (USD 13.3 billion) of our total revenue of USD 52.3 billion in 2019 came from our Brazilian listed subsidiary, Ambev, which is not wholly owned and is listed on the São Paulo Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. Furthermore, 12.4% (USD 6.5 billion) of our total revenue of USD 52.3 billion in 2019 came from our Asia Pacific listed subsidiary, Budweiser Brewing Company APAC Limited (“Budweiser APAC”), which, since September 2019, is not wholly owned and is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. In addition to the above, some of our subsidiaries are subject to laws restricting their ability to pay dividends or the amount of dividends they may pay. If we are not able to obtain sufficient cash flows from our domestic and foreign subsidiaries and affiliated companies, this could adversely impact our ability to pay dividends, and otherwise negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—G. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Transfers from Subsidiaries” for further information in this respect.

An inability to reduce costs could affect our profitability.

Our future success and earnings growth depend in part on our ability to be efficient in producing, advertising and selling our products and services. A number of our subsidiaries are in the process of executing cost-saving and efficiency programs and we are pursuing a number of initiatives to improve operational efficiency.

We are party to an agreement with Altria Group, Inc. (“Altria”), pursuant to which we provide assistance and cooperation to and give certain representations, indemnities and undertakings to Altria in relation to certain matters relevant to Altria under U.S. tax legislation (as amended from time to time, the “Tax Matters Agreement”).

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This agreement imposes some limits on our ability to effect certain reorganizations we might otherwise consider. See “Item 10. Additional Information—C. Material Contracts—Material Contracts Related to the Acquisition of SAB—Tax Matters Agreement” for more information.

If we fail for any reason to successfully complete our cost-saving measures and programs as planned or to derive the expected benefits from these measures and programs, there is a risk of increased costs associated with these efforts, delays in benefit realization, disruption to the business, reputational damage or a reduced competitive advantage in the medium term. Failure to generate significant cost savings and margin improvement through these initiatives could adversely affect our profitability and our ability to achieve our financial goals.

We are exposed to developing market risks, including the risks of devaluation, nationalization and inflation.

A substantial proportion of our operations are carried out in developing markets, representing approximately 58.6% of our 2019 revenue, which include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.

Our operations in these markets and equity investments in developing markets are subject to the customary risks of operating in developing countries, which include political instability or insurrection, human rights concerns, external interference, financial risks, changes in government policy, political and economic changes, changes in the relations between countries, actions of governmental authorities affecting trade and foreign investment, regulations on repatriation of funds, interpretation and application of local laws and regulations, enforceability of intellectual property and contract rights, local labor conditions and regulations, lack of upkeep of public infrastructure, potential political and economic uncertainty, application of exchange controls, nationalization or expropriation, empowerment legislation and policy, corrupt business environments, crime and lack of law enforcement. Such factors could affect our results by causing interruptions to our operations or by increasing the costs of operating in those countries or by limiting our ability to repatriate profits from those countries. The financial risks of operating in developing markets also include risks of illiquidity, inflation (for example, Brazil and Argentina have periodically experienced extremely high rates of inflation), devaluation (see “—Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may lead to volatility in our results of operations.”) (for example, the Brazilian, Argentine, Colombian, Peruvian, Turkish and several African currencies have been devalued frequently during the last several decades), price volatility, currency convertibility and country default.

Continued deterioration of the Argentine economy, or new foreign exchange, export repatriation or expropriation regimes could adversely affect our liquidity and ability to access funds from Argentina, our financial condition and operating results. Further devaluations of the Argentine peso (or the functional currencies of other of our operations) in the future, if any, may also decrease our net assets in Argentina (and other of our operations), with a balancing entry in our equity. For further discussion of the risks imposed by hyperinflation in Argentina, see “—Fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates may lead to volatility in our results of operations.”

These various factors could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, the economies of developing countries are often affected by developments in other developing market countries and, accordingly, adverse changes in developing markets elsewhere in the world could have a negative impact on the markets in which we operate. For example, any adverse economic developments in China may have a significant impact on economies elsewhere in the world. Due to our geographic mix, these factors could affect us more than our competitors with less exposure to developing markets, and any general decline in developing markets as a whole could impact us disproportionately compared to our competitors.

We rely on the reputation of our brands and our marketing efforts may be restricted by regulations.

Our success depends on our ability to maintain and enhance the image and reputation of our existing products and to develop a favorable image and reputation for new products. The image and reputation of our products may be affected in the future and concerns about product quality, even when unfounded, could tarnish the image and reputation of our products. An event, or series of events, that materially damages the reputation of one or more of our brands could have an adverse effect on the value of that brand and subsequent revenues from that brand or business. Restoring the image and reputation of our products may be costly and may not be possible.

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Moreover, our marketing efforts are subject to restrictions on the permissible advertising style, media channels and messages used. In a number of countries, for example, television is a prohibited medium for advertising beer and other alcohol beverage products, and in other countries, television and other forms of advertising, while permitted, are carefully regulated by a number of advertising codes and applicable laws. Any additional restrictions in such countries, or the introduction of similar restrictions in other countries, may constrain our brand building potential and thus reduce the value of our brands and related revenues.

Competition and changing consumer preferences could lead to a reduction in our margins, increase costs and adversely affect our profitability.

We compete with both brewers and other drinks companies and our products compete with other beverages. Globally, brewers, as well as other players in the beverage industry, compete mainly on the basis of brand image, price, quality, distribution networks and customer service. Consolidation has significantly increased the capital base and geographic reach of our competitors in some of the markets in which we operate, and competition is expected to increase further as the trend towards consolidation among companies in the beverage industry continues.

Concurrently, competition in the beverage industry is expanding and the market is becoming more fragmented, complex and sophisticated as consumer preferences and tastes change. Such preferences can change rapidly and in unpredictable ways due to a variety of factors, including changes in prevailing economic conditions, changing social trends and attitudes regarding alcoholic beverages, changes in leisure activity patterns or negative publicity resulting from regulatory action or litigation against us or comparable companies. Furthermore, developments in the regulatory frameworks governing the usage of cannabis could result in shifts in consumer preference and the impact that cannabis legalization could have on alcohol sales remains unclear.

Competition with brewers and producers of alternative beverages in our various markets and an increase in the purchasing power of players in our distribution channels could cause us to reduce pricing, increase capital investment, increase marketing and other expenditures and/or prevent us from increasing prices to recover higher costs, thereby causing us to reduce margins or lose market share. Further, we may not be able to anticipate or respond adequately either to changes in consumer preferences and tastes or to developments in new forms of media and marketing. Innovation faces inherent risks, and the new products we introduce may not be successful, while competitors may be able to respond more quickly than we can to emerging trends, such as the increasing consumer preference for “craft beers” produced by microbreweries and the growth of the hard seltzer category. In recent years, many industries have seen disruption from non-traditional producers and distributors, in many cases, from digital-only competitors. Our business could be negatively affected if we are unable to anticipate changing consumer preference for such platforms.

Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

If any of our products is defective or found to contain contaminants, we may be subject to product recalls or other associated liabilities.

Despite the precautions we take, in the event that any failure to comply with accepted food safety and regulatory standards (such as a contamination or a defect) does occur in the future, it may lead to business interruptions, product recalls or liability, each of which could have an adverse effect on our business, reputation, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Although we maintain insurance against certain product liability (but not product recall) risks, we may not be able to enforce our rights in respect of these policies, and, in the event that contamination or a defect occurs, any amounts that we recover may not be sufficient to offset any damage we may suffer, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

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Negative publicity, perceived health risks, failure to provide safe working environments and associated government regulation may harm our business.

In recent years, there has been increased public and political attention directed at the alcoholic beverage and food and soft drinks industries. This attention is the result of a rising health and well-being trend.

The global policy framework shaping the regulatory space for our products has evolved, and will likely continue to evolve, and the expectations of our stakeholders will continue to increase. We welcome the opportunity to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. Despite the progress made on our Smart Drinking Goals, we may be criticized and experience an increase in the number of publications and studies debating our efforts to reduce the harmful consumption of alcohol, as advocates try to shape the public discussions.

We may also be subject to laws and regulations aimed at reducing the affordability or availability of beer in some of our markets. Additional regulatory restrictions on our business, such as those on the legal minimum drinking age, product labeling, opening hours or marketing activities (including the marketing or selling of beer at sporting events), may cause the social acceptability of beer to decline significantly and consumption trends to shift away from it, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Moreover, key brand names are used by us, our subsidiaries, associates and joint ventures, and are licensed to third-party brewers. To the extent we or one of our subsidiaries, associates, joint ventures or licensees are subject to negative publicity, and the negative publicity causes consumers and customers to change their purchasing patterns, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. As a significant portion of our operations occur in developing and growth markets, there is a greater risk that we may be subject to negative publicity, in particular in relation to environmental issues, labor rights and local work conditions. Negative publicity that materially damages the reputation of one or more of our brands could have an adverse effect on the value of that brand and subsequent revenues from that brand or business, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition.

Climate change or other environmental concerns, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change or other environmental concerns, may negatively affect our business or operations, including the availability of key production inputs.

There is a growing concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere may have an adverse impact on global temperatures, weather and precipitation patterns and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. In the event that such climate change has a negative effect on agricultural productivity, we may be subject to decreased availability or less favorable pricing for certain agricultural commodities necessary for our products, such as barley, hops and sugar. Climate change may also subject us to water scarcity and quality risks due to the large amounts of water required to produce our products, including water consumed in the agricultural supply chain. In the event that climate change leads to droughts or water over-exploitation or has a negative effect on water availability or quality, the price of water may increase in certain areas and certain jurisdictions may enact unfavorable changes to applicable water-related taxes and regulations. Such measures, if adopted, could lead to increased regulatory pressures, production costs or capacity constraints. In addition, public expectations for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions could result in increased energy, transportation and raw material costs and may require us to make additional investments in facilities and equipment due to increased regulatory pressures. We have announced our 2025 Sustainability Goals focused on smart agriculture, water stewardship, circular packaging and climate action. If we fail to achieve these goals for any reason, there is a risk of reputational damage. As a result, the effects of climate change could have a long-term, material adverse impact on our business and results of operations.

We are required to report greenhouse gas emissions, energy data and other related information to a variety of entities, and to comply with the wider obligations of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. If we are unable to measure, track and disclose information accurately and in a timely manner, we could be subject to civil penalties for non-compliance in the various European Union member states in which we operate. In addition, the need for us to comply with the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme could result in increased operational costs if we are unable to meet our compliance obligations and exceed our emission allocations.

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There is also a risk of new environmental regulation in many geographies where we operate, including the European Union, U.S., Mexico and China, among others.

Our operations are subject to environmental regulations by national, state and local agencies, including, in certain cases, regulations that impose liability without regard to fault. These regulations can result in liability that might adversely affect our operations. The environmental regulatory climate in the markets in which we operate is becoming stricter, with a greater emphasis on enforcement. While we have continuously invested in reducing our environmental risks and budgeted for future capital and operating expenditures to maintain compliance with environmental laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that we will not incur a substantial environmental liability or that applicable environmental laws and regulations will not change or become more stringent in the future.

We may not be able to protect our intellectual property rights, and our ability to compete effectively may be harmed if our intellectual property rights are infringed by third parties.

Our future success depends significantly on our ability to protect our current and future brands and products and to defend our intellectual property rights, including trademarks, patents, domain names, trade secrets and know-how. We have been granted numerous trademark registrations and patents covering our brands and products and have filed, and expect to continue to file, trademark and patent applications seeking to protect newly developed brands and products. We cannot be sure that trademark and patent registrations will be issued with respect to any of our applications. There is also a risk that we could, by omission, fail to renew a trademark or patent on a timely basis or that our competitors will challenge, invalidate or circumvent any existing or future trademarks and patents issued to, or licensed by, us.

Although we have endeavored to take appropriate action to protect our portfolio of intellectual property rights (including patent applications, trademark registration, domain names and ongoing enforcement actions), we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will be sufficient or that third parties will not infringe upon or misappropriate proprietary rights. Moreover, some of the countries in which we operate offer less effective intellectual property protection than is available in Europe or the United States. If we are unable to protect our proprietary rights against infringement or misappropriation, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition and, in particular, on our ability to develop our business.

We could incur significant costs as a result of compliance with, and/or violations of or liabilities under, various regulations that govern our operations.

Our business is highly regulated in many of the countries in which we or our licensed third parties operate. The regulations adopted by the authorities in these countries govern many parts of our operations, including brewing, marketing and advertising (in particular to ensure our advertising is directed to individuals of legal drinking age), consumer promotions and rebates, environmental protection, workplace safety, transportation, distributor relationships, retail execution, sales and data privacy. We may be subject to claims that we have not complied with existing laws and regulations, which could result in fines and penalties or loss of operating licenses, which may have a material adverse impact on our ability to operate our businesses in these markets.

We are also routinely subject to new or modified laws and regulations with which we must comply in order to avoid claims, fines and other penalties, which could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation adopted in the European Union in April 2016, which was fully implemented in all member states in May 2018. Breach of any of these laws or regulations can lead to significant fines and/or damage to our reputation, as well as significantly restrict our ability to deliver on our digital productivity and growth plans.

We may also be subject to laws and regulations aimed at reducing the availability of beer and other alcoholic beverage products in some of our markets to address alcohol abuse and other social issues. See “—Negative publicity, perceived health risks, failure to provide safe working environments and associated government regulation may harm our business.” There can be no assurance that we will not incur material costs or liabilities in connection with compliance with applicable regulatory requirements, or that such regulation will not interfere with our beer, other alcoholic beverage and soft drinks businesses.

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Furthermore, the partnership between Labatt Breweries of Canada (“Labatt”), the Canadian subsidiary of our subsidiary Ambev, and Tilray Inc. (“Tilray”) to research non-alcohol beverages containing tetrahydrocannabinol (“THC”) and cannabidiol (“CBD”), both derived from cannabis, and also to commercialize a non-alcohol CBD beverage in Canada only, could lead to increased legal, reputational and financial risks, as the laws and regulations governing recreational cannabis are still developing, including in ways that we may not foresee. For instance, the involvement in the legal cannabis industry in Canada may invite new regulatory and enforcement scrutiny in other markets. Cannabis remains illegal in many markets in which we operate, and violations of law could result in significant fines, penalties, administrative sanctions, convictions or settlements arising from civil proceedings or criminal charges. Furthermore, the political environment and popular support for cannabis legalization is changing quickly and remains in flux.

For further detail regarding common regulations and restrictions on us, see “Item 4. Information on the Company—B. Business Overview—11. Regulations Affecting Our Business” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—A. Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations—Governmental Regulations.”

We are exposed to the risk of litigation, claims and disputes, which may cause us to pay significant damage awards and incur other costs.

We are now and may in the future be party to legal proceedings and claims and significant damages may be asserted against us. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Financial Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Arbitration Proceedings” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—H. Contractual Obligations and Contingencies—Contingencies” and note 32 to our audited restated consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2019 and 2018, and for the three years ended 31 December 2019, for a description of certain material contingencies which we believe are reasonably possible (but not probable) to be realized. Given the inherent uncertainty of litigation, it is possible that we might incur liabilities as a consequence of the proceedings and claims brought against us, including those that are not currently believed by us to be reasonably possible.

Moreover, companies in the alcoholic beverage industry and soft drink industry – including our operations – are, from time to time, exposed to collective suits (class actions) or other litigation relating to alcohol advertising, alcohol abuse problems or health consequences from the excessive consumption of beer, other alcohol beverages and soft drinks. As an illustration, we and certain other beer and other alcohol beverage producers from Brazil, Canada, Europe and the United States have been involved in class actions and other litigation seeking damages for, among other things, alleged marketing of alcohol beverages to underage consumers. If any of these types of litigation were to result in fines, damages or reputational damage to us or our brands, this could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial position. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Financial Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Arbitration Proceedings.”

Our failure to satisfy our obligations under the SAB settlement agreement could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice in relation to the combination with SAB on 20 July 2016. As part of this consent decree, we agreed (i) not to acquire control of a distributor if doing so would result in more than 10% of our U.S. annual volume being distributed through majority-owned distributorships in the U.S., (ii) not to terminate any wholesalers as a result of the combination with SAB, (iii) to review and modify certain aspects of our U.S. sales programs and policies to ensure that we do not limit the ability and incentives of independent distributors to sell and promote third-party brewers’ products and (iv) to notify the U.S. Department of Justice at least 30 days prior to the consummation of any acquisition of a beer brewer, importer, distributor or brand owner deriving more than USD 7.5 million in annual gross revenue from beer sold for further resale in the United States or from license fees generated by such sales, subject to certain exceptions. The consent decree was approved and entered by the U.S. federal district court in the District of Columbia on 22 October 2018. Unless the court grants an extension, the consent decree will expire on 20 July 2026 (ten (10) years after the U.S. Department of Justice filed its complaint); however, the consent decree may be terminated at any time after 22 October 2023 upon notice by the U.S. Department of Justice to the court that continuation of the consent decree is no longer necessary or in the public interest. Our compliance with our obligations under the settlement agreement is monitored by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Monitoring Trustee appointed by it. Were we to fail to fulfill our obligations under the settlement, whether intentionally or inadvertently, we could be subject to monetary fines or other penalties. Our obligations under the settlement agreement (in particular the restrictions on our U.S. sales programs and policies) may also adversely impact our U.S. operations.

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In other jurisdictions, we were required to make certain divestitures and to fulfill a number of other commitments as a condition to receiving regulatory clearance for the combination with SAB, and we are now in the process of fulfilling these commitments. For more information on commitments related to the combination with SAB, see “—We are exposed to antitrust and competition laws in certain jurisdictions and the risk of changes in such laws or in the interpretation and enforcement of existing antitrust and competition laws. In addition, in connection with our previous acquisitions, various regulatory authorities have previously imposed conditions with which we are required to comply.”

We may be subject to adverse changes in taxation and other tax-related risks.

Taxation on our products in the countries in which we operate is comprised of different taxes specific to each jurisdiction, such as excise and other indirect taxes (such as value-added tax (“VAT”)). In many jurisdictions, these taxes make up a large proportion of the cost of beer charged to consumers. Increases in excise and other indirect taxes applicable to our products either on an absolute basis or relative to the levels applicable to other beverages tend to adversely affect our revenue or margins, both by reducing overall consumption of our products and by encouraging consumers to switch to other categories of beverages, including unrecorded or informal alcohol products. These increases also adversely affect the affordability of our products and our profitability. In recent years, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, Egypt, Singapore, Peru and Argentina, among others, increased beer excise taxes. Tax increases can result in significant price increases and have a significant impact on our sales of beer. See “—Negative publicity, perceived health risks, failure to provide safe working environments and associated government regulation may harm our business.”

In addition to excise taxes, additional charges may be levied in relation to tax stamps and other forms of fiscal marking. In the last year, we have seen a strong pressure to introduce costly and ineffective fiscal marking systems in several African markets. The cost of these marking schemes could adversely affect our businesses in the relevant countries (including their profitability).

In addition to excise and other indirect duties, we are subject to income and other taxes in the countries in which we operate. There can be no assurance that the operations of our breweries and other facilities will not become subject to increased taxation by local, national or foreign authorities or that we and our subsidiaries will not become subject to higher corporate income tax rates or to new or modified taxation regulations and requirements.

For example, the work being carried out by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) on base erosion and profit shifting and initiatives at the European Union level (including the anti-tax avoidance directive adopted by the Council of the European Union on 12 July 2016) as a response to increasing globalization of trade and business operations could result in changes in tax treaties, the introduction of new legislation, updates to existing legislation, or changes to regulatory interpretations of existing legislation, any of which could impose additional taxes on businesses. Furthermore, the U.S. tax reform legislation signed on 22 December 2017 (Public Law 115-97) (the “Tax Act”), known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, brings major tax legislation changes into law. While the Tax Act reduces the statutory rate of U.S. federal corporate income tax to 21% and provides an exemption for certain dividends from 10%-owned foreign subsidiaries, the Tax Act expands the tax base by introducing further limitations on deductibility of interest, the imposition of a “base erosion and anti-abuse tax” and the imposition of minimum tax for “global intangible low-tax income,” among other changes which would adversely impact our results of operations. While significant regulations interpreting the changes made by the Tax Act have been implemented, additional guidance and regulations may be issued by U.S. tax authorities, and it is possible that future guidance could adversely impact us.

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We are exposed to antitrust and competition laws in certain jurisdictions and the risk of changes in such laws or in the interpretation and enforcement of existing antitrust and competition laws. In addition, in connection with our previous acquisitions, various regulatory authorities have previously imposed conditions with which we are required to comply.

We are subject to antitrust and competition laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate. Consequently, we may be subject to regulatory scrutiny in certain of these jurisdictions. For instance, in June 2016, the European Commission announced an investigation into alleged abuse of a dominant position by us in Belgium, and on 13 May 2019 published a decision concluding that certain of our actions restricted competition. See “Item 8. Financial Information—A. Consolidated Financial Statements and Other Financial Information—Legal and Arbitration Proceedings—Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV—Antitrust Matters” for more information. In addition, our Brazilian listed subsidiary, Ambev, has been subject to monitoring by antitrust authorities in Brazil. There can be no assurance that the introduction of new competition laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, the interpretation of existing antitrust or competition laws, the enforcement of existing antitrust or competition laws by competent authorities or civil antitrust litigation by private parties, or any agreements with competent antitrust or competition authorities, against us or our subsidiaries, including Ambev, will not affect our business or the businesses of our subsidiaries in the future or have a financial impact.

In addition, divestitures and other commitments made in order to obtain regulatory approvals, or our failure to comply with such commitments, may have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects. These or any conditions, remedies or changes also reduce the price we are able to obtain for such disposals or imposing additional costs on or limiting our revenues, any of which might have a material adverse effect on us and our results of operations.

If we do not successfully comply with applicable anti-corruption laws, export control regulations and trade restrictions, we could become subject to fines, penalties or other regulatory sanctions, as well as to adverse press coverage, which could cause our reputation, our sales or our profitability to suffer.

We operate our business and market our products in markets that, as a result of political and economic instability, a lack of well-developed legal systems and potentially corrupt business environments, present us with political, economic and operational risks. Although we are committed to conducting business in a legal and ethical manner in compliance with local and international laws and regulations applicable to our business, there is a risk that management, employees or other representatives of our subsidiaries, affiliates, associates, joint ventures or other business interests may take actions that violate applicable anti-corruption laws and regulations, including applicable laws relating to the 1997 OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act and Brazilian Law No. 12,846/13 (an anti-bribery statute that took effect in January 2014). Such actions could expose us to potential liability and the costs associated with investigating potential misconduct. In addition, any press coverage associated with misconduct under these laws and regulations, even if unwarranted or baseless, could damage our reputation and sales.

Additionally, in the ordinary course of business, we regularly contract and deal with business partners and consulting firms. Some of these third parties have been managed or controlled by former government officials. Because Brazilian authorities are conducting ongoing investigations that target certain firms and business partners that Ambev previously engaged, Ambev has been cited as clients in connection with such investigations.

In the third quarter of 2019, there were news reports regarding alleged leaks of statements about Ambev by a former consultant, Mr. Antonio Palocci, in a legal procedure to which Ambev subsequently had access. In this regard, we have not identified evidence supporting Mr. Palocci’s claims of illegal conduct by Ambev and remain committed to monitoring this matter.

As a global brewer, we also operate our business and market our products in countries that may be subject to export control regulations, embargoes, economic sanctions and other forms of trade restrictions imposed by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and other participants in the international community. For example, we indirectly own, through AB InBev Efes, our combined company with Anadolu Efes, subsidiaries in Russia and Ukraine. We do not sell directly into the Crimea region but are aware that indirect shipments may occur. In addition, certain of our associates also operate their business and market their products in countries subject to trade restrictions. For example, Anadolu Efes has an indirect interest in a Syrian soft drinks bottler and has limited distribution to Iran. Furthermore, our subsidiary Ambev operates a joint venture in Cuba with the Government of Cuba. See “—Our subsidiary Ambev operates a joint venture in Cuba, in which the Government of Cuba is its joint venture partner. Cuba remains subject to comprehensive economic and trade sanctions by the United States and Ambev’s operation in Cuba may adversely affect our reputation and the liquidity and value of our securities.”

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New or expanded export control regulations, economic sanctions, embargoes or other forms of trade restrictions imposed on Syria, Cuba, Iran or other countries in which we or our associates do business may curtail our existing business and may result in serious economic challenges in these geographies, which could have a material adverse effect on our and our associates’ operations, and may result in impairment charges on goodwill or other intangible assets.

Additionally, the global reach of our operations exposes us to risks associated with doing business globally, including changes in tariffs. The Office of the United States Trade Representative has enacted tariffs on certain imports into the United States from China. Additionally, the U.S. federal government continues to signal that it may alter trade agreements and terms between China and the United States, including limiting trade with China, imposing additional tariffs on imports from China and potentially imposing other restrictions on exports from China to the United States. Consequently, it is possible that additional or higher tariffs will be imposed on products imported from foreign countries, including China, or that our business will be adversely impacted by retaliatory trade measures taken by China or other countries in response to existing or future tariffs. These developments, or the perception that any of them could occur, may have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and the stability of global financial markets, and may significantly reduce global trade, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business in one or more of our key markets and results of operations.

Our subsidiary Ambev operates a joint venture in Cuba, in which the Government of Cuba is its joint venture partner. Cuba remains subject to comprehensive economic and trade sanctions by the United States and Ambev’s operations in Cuba may adversely affect our reputation and the liquidity and value of our securities.

A subsidiary of our subsidiary Ambev owns a 50% equity interest in Cervecería Bucanero S.A., a Cuban company in the business of producing and selling beer. Consequently, we indirectly own, through our subsidiary Ambev, a 50% equity interest in Cervecería Bucanero S.A. The other 50% equity interest is owned by the Government of Cuba. Cervecería Bucanero S.A. is operated as a joint venture in which Ambev appoints the general manager. Cervecería Bucanero S.A.’s main brands are Bucanero and Cristal, but it also imports and sells in Cuba other brands produced by certain of our non-U.S. subsidiaries. In 2019, Cervecería Bucanero S.A. sold 1.5 million hectoliters of beer, representing about 0.3% of our global volume of 561 million hectoliters for the year. Although Cervecería Bucanero S.A.’s production is primarily sold in Cuba, a small portion of its production is exported to and sold by certain distributors in other countries outside Cuba (but not in the United States).

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and the U.S. Commerce Department together administer and enforce broad and comprehensive economic and trade sanctions based on U.S. foreign policy towards Cuba. Although our operations in Cuba through our subsidiary Ambev are quantitatively immaterial, our overall business reputation may suffer or we may face additional regulatory scrutiny as a result of our activities in Cuba based on the identification of Cuba as a target of U.S. economic and trade sanctions. In addition, Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (known as the “Helms-Burton Act”) authorizes private lawsuits for damages against anyone who traffics in property confiscated without compensation by the Government of Cuba from persons who at the time were, or have since become, nationals of the United States. Separately, Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act authorizes the U.S. Department of State to prohibit entry into the United States of non-U.S. persons who traffic in confiscated property, and corporate officers and principals of such persons, and their families. Although Title III of the Helms-Burton Act has been suspended by discretionary presidential action since its inception in 1996, on 2 May 2019, the Trump Administration activated Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, thereby allowing nationals of the United States that hold claims under the Helms-Burton Act to file suit in U.S. federal court against all persons trafficking in property confiscated by the Cuban government. Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act has been in effect since the law was passed in 1996, but no actions have been taken under that provision since 1996. The Trump Administration has announced its intention to implement Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act by denying visas to persons who traffic in confiscated property. Since 2 May 2019, as a result of the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, we may be subject to potential U.S. litigation exposure, including claims accrued during the prior suspension of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. Given the unprecedented activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton Act, there is substantial uncertainty as to how the statute will be interpreted by U.S. courts. In 2009, former AB InBev received notice of a claim purporting to be made under the Helms-Burton Act relating to the use of a trademark by Cervecería Bucanero S.A., which is alleged to have been confiscated by the Cuban government and trafficked by former AB InBev through its former ownership and management of Cervecería Bucanero S.A. It remains uncertain how the activation of Title III of the Helms-Burton

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Act will impact our U.S. litigation exposure with respect to this notice of claim. Furthermore, in light of the aforementioned 2009 notice of a claim relating to an allegedly confiscated trademark and the Trump Administration’s statements with respect to Title IV of the Helms-Burton Act, non-U.S. persons, corporate officers and principals of such persons, as well as their family members, may be subject to the denial of visas to enter the United States. Given the limited past use of this authority by the U.S. Department of State, there is substantial uncertainty as to how it will be implemented on a going-forward basis and we are unable to ascertain how more robust implementation of the provision may affect us.

We may not be able to recruit or retain key personnel.

In order to develop, support and market our products, we must hire and retain skilled employees with particular expertise. The implementation of our strategic business plans could be undermined by a failure to recruit or retain key personnel or the unexpected loss of senior employees, including in acquired companies.

We face various challenges inherent in the management of a large number of employees across diverse geographical regions. It is not certain that we will be able to attract or retain key employees and successfully manage them, which could disrupt our business and have an unfavorable material effect on our financial position, income from operations and competitive position.

We are exposed to labor strikes and disputes that could lead to a negative impact on our costs and production level.

Our success depends on maintaining good relations with our workforce. In several of our operations, a majority of our workforce is unionized. For instance, a majority of the hourly employees at our breweries in several key countries in different geographies are represented by unions. Our production may be affected by work stoppages or slowdowns as a result of disputes under existing collective labor agreements with labor unions. We may not be able to satisfactorily renegotiate our collective labor agreements when they expire and may face more difficult negotiations or higher wage and benefit demands. Furthermore, a work stoppage or slowdown at our facilities could interrupt the transport of raw materials from our suppliers or the transport of our products to our customers. Such disruptions could put a strain on our relationships with suppliers and customers and may have lasting effects on our business even after the disputes with our labor force have been resolved, including as a result of negative publicity.

Our production may also be affected by work stoppages or slowdowns that affect our suppliers, distributors and retail delivery/logistics providers as a result of disputes under existing collective labor agreements with labor unions, in connection with negotiations of new collective labor agreements, as a result of supplier financial distress or for other reasons.

A strike, work stoppage or slowdown within our operations or those of our suppliers, or an interruption or shortage of raw materials for any other reason (including, but not limited to, financial distress, natural disaster or difficulties affecting a supplier) could have a material adverse effect on our earnings, financial condition and ability to operate our business.

Our United States organization has approximately 5,100 hourly brewery workers represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Their compensation and other terms of employment are governed by collective bargaining agreements negotiated between us and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. We recently completed negotiations of new five-year agreements with the Teamsters, which will expire on 29 February 2024.

Information technology failures, including those that affect the privacy and security of sensitive customer and business information, could damage our reputation and we could suffer a loss of revenue, incur substantial additional costs and become subject to litigation and regulatory scrutiny.

We rely on information technology systems to process, transmit and store large amounts of electronic data, including personal information. We engage in e-commerce in nearly two dozen countries, which includes direct sales to some customers. Additionally, a significant portion of the communication between our personnel, customers

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and suppliers depends on information technology. As with all large systems, our information systems may be vulnerable to a variety of interruptions due to events beyond our control, including, but not limited to, natural disasters, terrorist attacks, telecommunications failures, computer viruses, hackers or other security issues. Unauthorized or accidental access to, or destruction, loss, alteration, disclosure, misuse, falsification or unavailability of, information could result in violations of data privacy laws and regulations, damage to our reputation or our competitive advantage, loss of opportunities to acquire or divest of businesses or brands and loss of ability to commercialize products developed through research and development efforts and, therefore, could have a negative impact on net operating revenues. More generally, technology disruptions can have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, cash flows or financial condition.

We depend on information technology to enable us to operate efficiently and interface with customers, as well as to maintain in-house management and control. We also collect and store non-public personal information that customers provide to purchase products or services, including personal information and payment information. We have entered into various information technology services agreements pursuant to which our information technology is partially outsourced to leading third-party vendors, and we may share information about our company, customers, operations and employees with vendors that assist with certain aspects of our business. Like us, these third parties are subject to risks imposed by data breaches and cyber-attacks and other events or actions that could damage, disrupt or close down their networks or systems. Security processes, protocols and standards that we have implemented and contractual provisions requiring security measures that we may have sought to impose on such third parties may not be sufficient or effective at preventing such events, which could result in unauthorized access to, or disruptions to, or misuse of, information or systems that are important to our business, including proprietary information, sensitive or confidential data, and other information about our operations, customers, employees and suppliers, including personal information.

In addition, the concentration of processes in shared services centers means that any technology disruption could impact a large portion of our business within the operating regions served. Any transitions of processes to, from or within shared services centers as well as other transformational projects could lead to business disruptions. If we do not allocate and effectively manage the resources necessary to build and sustain the proper technology infrastructure, we could be subject to transaction errors, processing inefficiencies, the loss of, or failure to attract new customers, lost revenues resulting from the disruption or shutdown of computer systems, unexpected failure of devices and software in use by our IT platforms, operations or supply chain disruptions, alteration, corruption or loss of accounting financial or other data on which we rely for financial reporting and other purposes, which could cause errors or delays in our financial reporting, or the loss of or damage to intellectual property through a security breach. As with all information technology systems, our system could also be penetrated by outside parties intent on extracting information, corrupting information or disrupting business processes.

We take various actions with the aim of minimizing potential technology disruptions, such as investing in intrusion detection solutions, proceeding with internal and external security assessments, building and implementing business continuity plans and reviewing risk management processes. Regardless of such measures, we may suffer financial and reputational damage because of lost or misappropriated confidential information belonging to us, our current or former employees, our customers or suppliers, or consumers or other data subjects, and may become exposed to legal action and increased regulatory oversight. We could also be required to spend significant financial and other resources to remedy the damage caused by a security breach or to repair or replace networks and information systems.

While we continue to invest in new technology monitoring and cyberattack prevention systems, no commercial or government entity can be entirely free of vulnerability to attack or compromise given how rapidly and unpredictably techniques evolve to obtain unauthorized access or disable or degrade service. During the normal course of business, we have experienced and continue to expect to experience attempted breaches of our technology systems and networks from time to time. In 2019, as in previous years, we experienced several attempted breaches of our technology systems and networks. None of the attempted breaches of our systems (as a result of cyberattacks, security breaches or similar events) had a material impact on our business or operations or resulted in known material unauthorized access to our data or our customers’ data.

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If we fail to comply with personal data protection laws, we could be subject to adverse publicity, government enforcement actions and/or private litigation, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.

In the ordinary course of our business, we receive, process, transmit and store information relating to identifiable individuals (“personal data”), such as employees and consumers. As a result, we are subject to various laws and regulations relating to personal data. These laws have been subject to frequent changes, and new legislation in this area may be enacted in other jurisdictions at any time. For example, we are subject to the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which became effective in May 2018 for all member states in the EU. GDPR, as well as any other changes to existing personal data protection laws and the introduction of such laws in other jurisdictions, have subjected and may continue in the future to subject us to, among other things, additional costs and expenses and have required and may in the future require costly changes to our business practices and security systems, policies, procedures and practices. There is no assurance that our security controls over personal data, the training of employees and vendors on data privacy and data security, and the policies, procedures and practices we implemented or may implement in the future will prevent the improper disclosure of personal data. Improper disclosure of personal data in violation of GDPR and/or of other personal data protection laws could harm our reputation, subject us to government enforcement actions (including fines) or result in private litigation against us, which could negatively affect our business and operating results.

Natural and other disasters could disrupt our operations.

Our business and operating results could be negatively impacted by natural, social, technical or physical risks such as a widespread health emergency such as the COVID-19 virus pandemic (or concerns over the possibility of such an emergency), earthquakes, hurricanes, typhoons, flooding, fire, water scarcity, power loss, loss of water supply, telecommunications and information technology system failures, cyberattacks, labor disputes, political instability, military conflict and uncertainties arising from terrorist attacks, including a global economic slowdown, the economic consequences of any military action and associated political instability.

Our insurance coverage may not be sufficient.

We purchase insurance for director and officer liability and other coverage where required by law or contract or where considered to be in our best interest. Even though we maintain these insurance policies, we self-insure most of our insurable risk. Should an uninsured loss or a loss in excess of insured limits occur, this could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition.

An impairment of goodwill or other intangible assets would adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

We have previously recognized significant goodwill on our balance sheet through acquisitions. For example, upon completion of the combination with SAB, we recognized USD 72.4 billion of incremental goodwill on our balance sheet.

Our accounting policy considers brands and distribution rights for our own products as intangible assets with indefinite useful lives, which are tested for impairment on an annual basis (or more often if an event or circumstance indicates that an impairment loss may have been incurred) and not amortized. After the completion of the combination with SAB, we recorded brands and other intangibles from the SAB business as intangible assets with indefinite useful lives, with a fair value of USD 15.0 billion.

As of 31 December 2019, our goodwill amounted to USD 128.1 billion and intangible assets with indefinite useful lives amounted to USD 40.2 billion. If the continuing integration of our businesses with SAB’s businesses meets with unexpected difficulties or if the combined business does not develop as expected, impairment charges may be incurred in the future that could be significant and that could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

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The audit report included in this annual report is prepared by an auditor who is not inspected by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and, as such, you may be deprived of the benefits of such inspection.

Auditors of companies that are registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and traded publicly in the United States, including our independent registered public accounting firm, must be registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (the “PCAOB”) and are required by the laws of the United States to undergo regular inspections by the PCAOB to assess their compliance with the laws of the United States and professional standards. Because our auditors are located in Belgium, a jurisdiction where the PCAOB is currently unable to conduct inspections without the approval of the Belgian authorities, our auditors are not currently inspected by the PCAOB.

This lack of PCAOB inspections in Belgium prevents the PCAOB from regularly evaluating audits and quality-control procedures of any auditors operating in Belgium, including our auditors. As a result, investors may be deprived of the benefits of PCAOB inspections.

The inability of the PCAOB to conduct inspections of auditors in Belgium makes it more difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of our auditor’s audit procedures or quality-control procedures as compared to auditors outside of Belgium that are subject to PCAOB inspections.

Risks Related to Our Ordinary Shares and American Depositary Shares

The market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs may be volatile.

The market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs may be volatile as a result of various factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following:

The market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs may be adversely affected by any of the preceding or other factors regardless of our actual results of operations and financial condition.

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Furthermore, we have entered into a series of derivative contracts on our own shares to hedge (1) the risk arising from certain share-based payment programs, (2) the deferred share instrument related to the Grupo Modelo combination and (3) some share-based payments in connection with the acquisition of SAB. Most of these derivative instruments could not qualify for hedge accounting and thus changes in the fair value of the hedges are recognized in our profit or loss account for the period. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk — Market Risk, Hedging and Financial Instruments — Equity Price Risk”. As we currently hedge the exposure for an equivalent of 99.5 million of our shares, a significant change in our share price will have a significant impact on our profit or loss account.

Our largest shareholder may use its significant interest to take actions not supported by our other shareholders.

As of 31 December 2019, our largest shareholder, Stichting Anheuser-Busch InBev (the “Stichting”), owned 33.84% of our voting rights (and the Stichting and certain other entities acting in concert with it (within the meaning of the Belgian Law of 1 April 2007 on public takeover bids and/or the Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 on the disclosure of significant shareholdings in issuers whose securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market and containing various provisions, implementing into Belgian law Directive 2004/109/CE (the “Belgian Law of 2 May 2007 on the notification of significant shareholdings”)) held, in aggregate, 43.35% of our voting rights), based on the number of shares outstanding on 31 December 2019, excluding the 59,862,847 treasury shares held by us and certain of our subsidiaries (including approximately 12.7 million² treasury shares required to settle our obligations under Zenzele schemes) (see “Item 7. Major Shareholders and Related Party Transactions—A. Major Shareholders” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review —H. Contractual Obligations and Contingencies”). In accordance with our articles of association, the Stichting has the ability to effectively control the election of a majority of our board of directors, as a result of which, under Belgian law, the Stichting has control of us. The Stichting is also able to have a significant influence on the outcome of corporate actions requiring shareholder approval, including mergers, share capital increases and other extraordinary items. See “Item 10. Additional Information—B. Memorandum and Articles of Association and Other Share Information—Description of the Rights and Benefits Attached to Our Shares” for further information in this respect.

The interests and time horizons of the Stichting may differ from those of other shareholders. As a result of its influence on our business, the Stichting could prevent us from making certain decisions or taking certain actions that would protect the interests of our other shareholders. For example, this concentration of ownership may delay or prevent a change of control of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, even in the event that this change of control may benefit other shareholders generally. Similarly, the Stichting could prevent us from taking certain actions that would dilute its percentage interest in our shares, even if such actions would generally be beneficial to us and/or to other shareholders. These and other factors related to the Stichting’s holding of a significant interest in our shares may reduce the liquidity of our shares and ADSs and their attractiveness to investors.

We may be unable to pay dividends.

As a general matter, we cannot guarantee that we will pay dividends in the future. The payment of dividends will depend on factors such as our business outlook, cash flow requirements and financial performance, the state of the market and the general economic climate (including the impact of COVID-19 virus pandemic) and other factors, including tax and other regulatory considerations. In particular, in light of the increased debt that resulted from completion of the combination with SAB, deleveraging remains a priority and may restrict the amount of dividends we are able to pay. In addition, we must, under Belgian law and our articles of association, before we proceed with any dividend payment, allocate an amount equal to 5% of our annual net profit on an unconsolidated basis to a legal reserve in our unconsolidated financial statements until the reserve reaches 10% of our share capital, in accordance with Belgian accounting principles.

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Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro, the South African rand, the Mexican peso and the U.S. dollar may increase the risk of holding our ADSs and Ordinary Shares.

Our Ordinary Shares currently trade on Euronext Brussels in euro and we have secondary listings of our shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in South African rand and on the Mexican Stock Exchange (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores) in Mexican pesos. Our ADSs trade on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) in U.S. dollars. Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the euro, the South African rand, the Mexican peso and the U.S. dollar may result in temporary differences between the value of our Ordinary Shares trading in different currencies and between the value of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs, which may result in heavy trading by investors seeking to exploit such differences. Similarly, uncertainty over fiscal and budgetary challenges in the United States, Mexico, South Africa and/or Europe may negatively impact global economic conditions, and could trigger sharply increased trading and consequent market fluctuations, which would increase the volatility of, and may have an adverse effect upon, the price of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs.

In addition, as a result of fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar, the euro, the South African rand and the Mexican peso, the U.S. dollar equivalent of the proceeds that a holder of our ADSs would receive upon the sale in Belgium, South Africa or Mexico of any shares withdrawn from the American Depositary Receipt (“ADR”) depositary and the U.S. dollar equivalent of any cash dividends paid in euro on our Ordinary Shares represented by the ADSs could also decline.

Future equity issuances may dilute the holdings of current shareholders or ADS holders and could materially affect the market price of our Ordinary Shares or ADSs.

We may in the future decide to offer additional equity to raise capital or for other purposes, in compliance with applicable Belgian legislation. Any such additional offering could reduce the proportionate ownership and voting interests of holders of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs, as well as our earnings per share or ADS and net asset value per share or ADS, and any offerings by us or our main shareholders could have an adverse effect on the market price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs.

We entered into a registration rights agreement requiring us to register for resale under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), all registrable shares held by the holders of Restricted Shares (the “Restricted Shareholders”) no earlier than five years after completion of the combination with SAB, at which point the Restricted Shares will become eligible for conversion into Ordinary Shares at the option of the Restricted Shareholder. As of the closing of the combination with SAB, Restricted Shares represented 16.14% of our outstanding share capital. Although the Restricted Shares are generally subject to certain holdback and suspension periods until 21 October 2021, the Restricted Shares, once they are converted to Ordinary Shares, are not subject to a “lock-up” or similar restriction under the registration rights agreement. Accordingly, sales of large numbers of Ordinary Shares may be made upon registration of such shares with the SEC in accordance with the terms of the registration rights agreement. Registration and sales of our Ordinary Shares effectuated pursuant to the registration rights agreement will increase the number of shares being sold in the public market and may increase the volatility of the price of our Ordinary Shares and ADSs.

Investors may suffer dilution if they are not able to participate in equity offerings, and our ADS holders may not receive any value for rights that we may grant.

Our constitutional documents provide for preference rights to be granted to our existing shareholders unless such rights are disapplied by resolution of our shareholders’ meeting or the Board of Directors. Our shareholders’ meeting or our Board of Directors may disapply such rights in future equity offerings, while no preference rights apply to capital increases through contributions in kind. In addition, certain shareholders (including shareholders resident in, or citizens of, certain jurisdictions, such as the United States, Australia, Canada and Japan) may not be entitled to exercise such rights even if they are not disapplied unless the rights and related shares are registered or qualified for sale under the relevant legislative or regulatory framework. In particular, there can be no assurance that we will be able to establish an exemption from registration under the Securities Act and we are under no obligation to file a registration statement with respect to any such preferential subscription rights or underlying securities or to endeavor to have a registration statement declared effective under the Securities Act (other than as set out in the Registration Rights Agreement) (see “Item 10. Additional Information—C. Material Contracts—Material Contracts Related to the Acquisition of SAB — Registration Rights Agreement” for more information on the Registration Rights Agreement). As a result, there is the risk that investors may suffer dilution of their shareholding should they not be permitted to participate in preference right equity or other offerings that we may conduct in the future.

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If rights are granted to our shareholders, but the ADR depositary is unable to sell rights corresponding to shares represented by ADSs that are not exercised by, or distributed to, our ADS holders, or if the sale of such rights is not lawful or reasonably practicable, the ADR depositary will allow the rights to lapse, in which case ADS holders will receive no value for such rights.

ADS holders may not be able to exercise their right to vote the shares underlying our ADSs.

Holders of ADSs may be entitled to exercise voting rights with respect to the Ordinary Shares represented by our ADSs only in accordance with the provisions of the deposit agreement (as amended from time to time, the “Deposit Agreement”), dated 30 June 2009, as amended from time to time, among former AB InBev, The Bank of New York Mellon, as depositary, and the owners and holders of American Depositary Shares from time to time under the Deposit Agreement, to which we are successor-in-interest. The Deposit Agreement provides that, upon receipt of a notice of any meeting of holders of our Ordinary Shares, the depositary will, if we so request, distribute to the ADS holders a notice which shall contain (i) such information as is contained in the notice of the meeting sent by us, (ii) a statement that the ADS holder as of the specified record date shall be entitled to instruct the ADR depositary as to the exercise of voting rights and (iii) a statement as to the manner in which instructions may be given by the holders.

Under the Deposit Agreement, holders of ADSs may instruct the depositary to vote the shares underlying their ADSs, but they will only receive the notice described above if we ask the depositary to ask for their instructions. Otherwise, ADS holders will not be able to exercise their right to vote, unless they withdraw the Ordinary Shares underlying the ADSs they hold. However, ADS holders may not know about the meeting far enough in advance to withdraw those shares. If we ask for the instructions of ADS holders, the depositary, upon timely notice from us, will notify ADS holders of the upcoming vote and arrange to deliver our voting materials to them. We cannot guarantee ADS holders that they will receive the voting materials in time to ensure that they can instruct the depositary to vote their shares. In addition, the depositary and its agents are not responsible for failing to carry out voting instructions or for the manner of carrying out voting instructions. This means that ADS holders may not be able to exercise their right to vote, and there may be nothing they can do if the shares underlying their ADSs are not voted as requested.

ADS holders may be subject to limitations on the transfer of their ADSs or the withdrawal of the underlying Ordinary Shares from the deposit facility.

ADSs are transferable on the books of the ADR depositary. However, the ADR depositary may refuse to deliver, transfer or register transfers of ADSs generally when the books of the depositary are closed or if such action is deemed necessary or advisable by the depositary or by us because of any requirement of law or of any government or governmental body or commission or under any provision of the Deposit Agreement. Moreover, the surrender of ADSs and withdrawal of Ordinary Shares may be suspended subject to the payment of fees, taxes and similar charges or if we direct the depositary at any time to cease new issuances and withdrawals of our Ordinary Shares during periods specified by us in connection with shareholders’ meetings, the payment of dividends or as otherwise reasonably necessary for compliance with any applicable laws or government regulations.

Shareholders may not enjoy under Belgian corporate law and our articles of association certain of the rights and protections generally afforded to shareholders of U.S. companies under U.S. federal and state laws and the NYSE rules.

We are a public limited liability company incorporated under the laws of Belgium. Shareholders may not enjoy under Belgian corporate law and our articles of association certain of the rights and protections generally afforded to shareholders of U.S. companies under U.S. federal and state laws and the NYSE rules. The rights provided to our shareholders under Belgian corporate law and our articles of association differ in certain respects from the rights that you would typically enjoy as a shareholder of a U.S. company under applicable U.S. federal and/or state laws. In general, the Belgian Corporate Governance Code is a code of best practice applying to Belgian-listed companies on a non-binding basis. The Belgian Corporate Governance Code applies a “comply or explain” approach, i.e., companies may depart from the Belgian Corporate Governance Code’s provisions if, as required by law, they give a reasoned explanation of the reasons for doing so.

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We rely on a provision in the NYSE Listed Company Manual that allows us to follow Belgian corporate law and the Belgian Corporate Governance Code with regard to certain aspects of corporate governance. This allows us to follow certain corporate governance practices that differ in significant respects from the corporate governance requirements applicable to U.S. companies listed on the NYSE. See “Item 16G. Corporate Governance” for additional information on these differences. In particular, the NYSE rules require a majority of the directors of a U.S.-listed company to be independent while, in Belgium, only three directors need be independent. Our board currently comprises three independent directors and 12 directors not deemed to be “independent” under the NYSE listing standards. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—A. Directors and Senior Management—Board of Directors.” The NYSE rules further require that each of the nomination, compensation and audit committees of a listed U.S. company be comprised entirely of independent directors. However, the Belgian Corporate Governance Code recommends only that a majority of the directors on each of these committees meet the technical requirements for independence under Belgian corporate law. All voting members of our Audit Committee are independent for purposes of Rule 10A-3 under the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). Our Audit Committee, Nomination Committee and Remuneration Committee have members who would not be considered independent under NYSE rules, and, therefore, our Audit Committee, Nomination Committee and Remuneration Committee would not be in compliance with the NYSE Corporate Governance Standards for domestic issuers in respect of the independence of these committees. However, our Audit Committee, Nomination Committee and Remuneration Committee are composed exclusively of non-executive directors who are independent of management and whom we consider to be free of any business or other relationship which could materially interfere with the exercise of their independent judgment. See “Item 6. Directors, Senior Management and Employees—C. Board Practices—Information about Our Committees—General.”

Under Belgian corporate law, other than certain limited information that we must make public, our shareholders may not ask for an inspection of our corporate records, while under Delaware corporate law, any shareholder, irrespective of the size of his or her shareholdings, may do so. Shareholders of a Belgian corporation are also unable to initiate a derivative action, a remedy typically available to shareholders of U.S. companies, in order to enforce a right of AB InBev, in case we fail to enforce such right ourselves, other than in certain cases of director liability under limited circumstances. In addition, a majority of our shareholders may release a director from any claim of liability we may have, including if he or she has acted in bad faith or has breached his or her duty of loyalty, provided, in some cases, that the relevant acts were specifically mentioned in the convening notice to the shareholders’ meeting deliberating on the discharge. In contrast, most U.S. federal and state laws prohibit a company or its shareholders from releasing a director from liability altogether if he or she has acted in bad faith or has breached his or her duty of loyalty to the company. Finally, Belgian corporate law does not provide any form of appraisal rights in the case of a business combination.

For additional information on these and other aspects of Belgian corporate law and our articles of association, see “Item 10. Additional Information—B. Memorandum and Articles of Association and Other Share Information.” As a result of these differences between Belgian corporate law and our articles of association, on the one hand, and U.S. federal and state laws, on the other hand, in certain instances, you could receive less protection as a shareholder of our company than you would as a shareholder of a U.S. company.

As a “foreign private issuer” in the United States, we are exempt from a number of rules under U.S. securities laws and are permitted to file less information with the SEC.

As a “foreign private issuer,” we are exempt from certain rules under the Exchange Act that impose certain disclosure obligations and procedural requirements for proxy solicitations under Section 14 of the Exchange Act. In addition, our officers, directors and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and “short-swing” profit recovery provisions under Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Moreover, we are not required to file periodic reports and financial statements with the SEC as frequently or as promptly as U.S. companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act. Accordingly, there may be less publicly available information concerning us than there is for U.S. public companies.

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It may be difficult for investors outside Belgium to serve process on or enforce foreign judgments against us.

We are a Belgian public limited liability company. Certain of the members of our Board of Directors and the Executive Committee and certain of the persons named herein are non-residents of the United States. All or a substantial portion of the assets of such non-resident persons and certain of our assets are located outside the United States. As a result, it may not be possible for investors to effect service of process upon such persons or on us or to enforce against them or us a judgment obtained in U.S. courts. Original actions or actions for the enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts relating to the civil liability provisions of the federal or state securities laws of the United States are not directly enforceable in Belgium. The United States and Belgium do not currently have a multilateral or bilateral treaty providing for reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments, other than arbitral awards, in civil and commercial matters. In order for a final judgment for the payment of money rendered by U.S. courts based on civil liability to produce any effect on Belgian soil, it is accordingly required that this judgment be recognized or be declared enforceable by a Belgian court pursuant to the relevant provisions of the 2004 Belgian Code of Private International Law. Recognition or enforcement does not imply a review of the merits of the case and is irrespective of any reciprocity requirement. A U.S. judgment will, however, not be recognized or declared enforceable in Belgium if it infringes upon one or more of the grounds for refusal which are exhaustively listed in Article 25 of the Belgian Code of Private International Law. In addition to recognition or enforcement, a judgment by a federal or state court in the United States against us may also serve as evidence in a similar action in a Belgian court if it meets the conditions required for the authenticity of judgments according to the law of the state where it was rendered.

Registration and Main Corporate Details

Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV was incorporated on 3 March 2016 for an unlimited duration under the laws of Belgium under the original name Newbelco SA/NV, and is the successor entity to former AB InBev, which was incorporated on 2 August 1977 for an unlimited duration under the laws of Belgium under the original name BEMES. It has the legal form of a public limited liability company (naamloze vennootschap/société anonyme). Its registered office is located at Grand-Place/Grote Markt 1, 1000 Brussels, Belgium, and it is registered with the Register of Legal Entities of Brussels under the number 0417.497.106. Our global headquarters are located at Brouwerijplein 1, 3000 Leuven, Belgium (tel.: +32 16 27 61 11). Our agent in the United States is Anheuser-Busch InBev Services LLC, 250 Park Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10177.

We are a publicly traded company, with our primary listing on Euronext Brussels under the symbol “ABI.” We also have secondary listings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange under the symbol “ANH” and the Mexican Stock Exchange under the symbol “ANB.” ADSs representing rights to receive our Ordinary Shares are listed and trade on the NYSE under the symbol “BUD.”

History and Development of the Company

Our dedication to quality goes back to a brewing tradition of more than 600 years and the Den Hoorn brewery in Leuven, Belgium. In 1717, Sébastien Artois, master brewer of Den Hoorn, took over the brewery and renamed it Sébastien Artois. In 1987, the two largest breweries in Belgium merged: Brouwerijen Artois NV, located in Leuven, and Brasserie Piedboeuf SA, founded in 1853 and located in Jupille, resulting in the formation of Interbrew S.A. Interbrew operated as a family-owned business until December 2000, the time of its initial public offering on Euronext Brussels. The period since the listing of Interbrew on Euronext Brussels has been marked by increasing geographical diversification.

Since 2000, we have completed the following major combinations, acquisitions and sales:

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Furthermore, during 2019, 2018 and 2017, we performed a series of other investments and disposals. For further details, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—G. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Investments and Disposals.”

B. BUSINESS OVERVIEW

Strengths

We are building a company to last, brewing beer and building brands that will continue to bring people together for the next 100 years and beyond. As a global family of local companies, we unite approximately 170,000 exceptional people in nearly 50 countries and more than 500 brands around a passion for brewing the highest quality beer. We believe that the following key strengths will drive the realization of our strategic goals and reinforce our competitive position in the marketplace:

Global platform with strong market positions in key markets to grow the category

We are a truly global brewer, positioned to serve the evolving needs of consumers worldwide. Our portfolio of well over 500 brands means we have beers for every type of occasion and our iconic brands bring people together across generations and communities.

We hold leading positions in the majority of our key markets, based on strong brands and the benefits of scale. We believe this enables us to invest significant sales and marketing resources in our brands, achieve attractive sourcing terms, generate cost savings through centralization and operate under a lean cost structure. Our global footprint provides us with a strong platform to grow our global and multi-country brands, while developing local brands tailored to regional tastes and trends. We benefit from a global distribution network which, depending on the location, is either owned by us or is based on strong partnerships with wholesalers and local distributors.

In 2019, we were one of the largest consumer products companies worldwide, measured by EBITDA, as defined, and held the number one position in terms of total market share of beer by volume in the world, according to Plato Logic Limited. We hold the number one position in terms of total market share of beer by volume, based on our estimates, in the United States, Mexico and Brazil, three of the top five most profitable beer markets in the world. We estimate that we hold the number three position in total market share of beer by volume, and the number one position by volume in the fast-growing premium beer category, in China, the world’s largest beer market by volume.

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We believe that we can realize sufficient upside potential by using our strong platform to grow our global and multi-country brands while developing local brands tailored to regional tastes and trends.

Geographic diversification

Our geographically diversified platform balances the growth opportunities of developing markets with the stability and strength of developed markets. With significant operations in both the Southern and Northern Hemispheres, we benefit from a natural hedge against local or regional market, economic and seasonal volatility.

Developed markets represented approximately 41.4% of our 2019 revenue and developing markets represented 58.6% of our 2019 revenue. Our developing markets include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, India, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia.

Strong brand portfolio with global, multi-country and local brands

Our strong brand portfolio addresses a broad range of demand for different types of beer, comprising three categories:

With well over 500 brands, of which 19 had an estimated gross revenue of over USD 1 billion in 2019, we believe our portfolio is the strongest in the industry. Eight of our brands—Budweiser, Bud Light, Stella Artois, Corona, Skol, Brahma, Aguila and Modelo —are ranked among the Global Top Ten most valuable beer brands by BrandZ^™.

Our passion for brewing was evidenced by the 498 awards we won around the world this year, making us the most awarded brewer at major international beer competitions. We continue to focus on creating the highest quality beers to meet consumer needs across a wide variety of occasions.

Our strategy is to develop a portfolio of brands that meet a wide breadth of consumer needs within the market, ranging in terms of price tier, flavor profiles, and brand meaning. As a result, we make clear brand choices and seek to invest behind brands with strong purpose in order to build deep connections with consumers. We leverage the scale of our global footprint to replicate successful brand initiatives, market programs and best practices across multiple geographic markets.

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Strong consumer insights-driven brand development capabilities

As a consumer-focused, insights-driven company, we continuously strive to understand the values, lifestyles and preferences of today’s consumers. We expect that this will allow us to remain relevant, as well as build fresh appeal and competitive advantage through innovative products and services tailored to meet evolving consumer needs. We believe that consumer demand can be best anticipated by a close relationship between our innovation and insight teams in which current and expected market trends trigger and drive research processes. Successful examples of recently developed products or insights deployed include Michelob Ultra Pure Gold Organic (United States), Budweiser Copper Lager (United States), Bud Light Orange (United States), Bud Light Radler (Canada), Harbin Crystal Ice (China), Beck’s Ice (India), Nossa (Brazil), Skol Beats Fire (Brazil), Vickycheladatoria Fuego (Mexico), Taurino (El Salvador), Andes Origen Blonde, Red, Black and IPA (Argentina), Patagonia Porter (Argentina), Pilsen Ñande (Paraguay), Beck’s Gold (Bolivia), Hertog Jan Enkel (Netherlands), Pure Blonde by Jupiler (Belgium), Leffe 0.0% (Belgium) and Michelob Ultra (UK).

We believe that our internal excellence programs are a major competitive advantage. The World Class Commercial Academy is an integrated marketing and sales execution program designed to continuously improve the quality of our sales and marketing capabilities and processes by ensuring they are fully understood by all relevant employees and consistently followed.

Strict financial discipline

World-class efficiency has been, and will remain, a long-term focus across all markets, all lines of business and under all economic circumstances. Avoiding unnecessary costs is a core competency within our culture. We aim to be efficient with our overhead expenses in order to spend more effectively to grow our company. As a result, we have implemented, and will continue to develop, programs and initiatives aimed at reducing non-commercial expenses. This strict financial discipline has allowed us to develop a “Cost—Connect—Win” model in which overhead expenses are minimized in order to maximize our sales and marketing investments designed to connect with our consumers, win market share and achieve long-term, profitable growth.

We have a number of group-wide cost efficiency programs in place, including :

Experienced management team with a strong track record of delivering synergies through business combinations

During the last two decades, our management, including the management of our predecessor companies, has executed a number of merger and acquisition transactions of varying sizes, with acquired businesses being successfully and smoothly integrated into our operations, realizing significant synergies. Notable historical examples include the creation of Ambev in 2000 through the combination of Brahma and Antarctica, the acquisition of Beck’s by Interbrew in 2002, the combination of Ambev and Quilmes in 2003, Ambev gaining control of Labatt in 2004 and the creation of InBev in 2004 from the combination of Interbrew and Ambev. More recent examples include the combination with Anheuser-Busch Companies in November 2008, the combination with Grupo Modelo in June 2013 and the combination with SAB in 2016.

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Our strong track record also extends to successfully integrating brands such as Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois into our global brand portfolio and distribution network, including leveraging Ambev’s distribution channels in Latin America and Canada.

We utilized these skills and experiences and completed the integration of former AB InBev and SAB in a timely fashion. On 25 October 2019, we announced the completion of our USD 3.2 billion synergy and cost savings program on a constant currency basis as of August 2016. From this total, USD 547 million was reported by former SAB as of 31 March 2016, and USD 2,653 million was captured between 1 April 2016 and 30 September 2019.

Strategy

Delivering organic growth

We have a long-term focus on top-line growth, and delivering consistent, balanced and profitable top-line growth is our number one priority. We are building a company for the next 100 years. We have a comprehensive strategy focused on three interlocking strategic frameworks:

Since the combination of SAB, we have adopted a new way of looking at the beer category that recognizes different market maturities and the role of brand portfolios in driving category health. We are excited about the growth opportunities we are seeing in more than 50 countries—in both developed and developing markets—and this positions us for sustainable and profitable long-term revenue growth, delivered with a healthy balance between volume and revenue per hectoliter. As a result of now having operations in virtually every major beer market, we have an enhanced understanding of the key moments of consumption, and to focus our sales, marketing, product development and other brand-building activities on capturing a greater share of these consumption opportunities. We believe that by understanding, embracing and enriching consumption moments and occasions, we have the opportunity to accelerate growth and deliver increased shareholder value.

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Our strategy is based on our Dream of Bringing People Together for a Better World

We strive to achieve this every day. By combining scale, resources and energy with the needs of the communities we serve, we believe we have the drive and tools to help make it happen.

We are committed to driving long-term growth and creating value for our business partners and stakeholders. Through our products, brands and investment in communities, we are excited to work toward the Dream of Bringing People Together for a Better World.

With operations in virtually every major beer market and an expanded portfolio that includes global, multi-country and local brands, we are providing more choices for consumers around the world to better meet their needs and expectations. We expect that our expanded reach will help grow our global and multi-country brands, while we continue to develop local brands tailored to regional tastes and trends.

Through our reach, resources and energy, we are addressing the needs of our communities by:

For further information about our Dream of Bringing People Together for a Better World, see “—13. Social and Community Matters.”

With our strong brand portfolio, we are “bringing people together” in ways that few others can. By building common ground, strengthening human connections and helping our consumers share unique experiences, we are able to achieve something together that cannot be accomplished alone.

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Cost management and efficiency

We strive to continuously improve efficiency by unlocking the potential for variable and fixed-cost savings by seeking to:

We produce, market, distribute and sell a portfolio of well over 500 beer and malt beverage brands. We have a global footprint with a balanced exposure to developed and developing markets and production facilities spread across our regions.

Our production and distribution facilities and other assets are predominantly located in the same geographical areas as our consumers. We set up local production when we believe that there is substantial potential for local sales that cannot be addressed in a cost-efficient manner through exports or third-party distribution into the relevant country. Local production also helps us to reduce, although it does not eliminate, our exposure to currency movements.

The table below sets out the main brands we sell in the markets listed below as of 31 December 2019. We expect that significant growth opportunities will arise from marketing our brand portfolio through a largely complementary distribution network.

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Notes:

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The table below sets out our sales broken down by business segment for the periods shown:

Notes:

For a discussion of changes in revenue, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—E. Results of Operations—Year Ended 31 December 2019 Compared to the Year Ended 31 December 2018—Revenue” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—E. Results of Operations—Year Ended 31 December 2018 Compared to the Year Ended 31 December 2017—Revenue.”

The table below sets out the breakdown between our beer and non-beer volumes and revenue. Based on our actual historical financial information for these periods, our non-beer activities accounted for 11.8% of consolidated volumes in 2019, 11.8% of consolidated volumes in 2018 and 17.2% of consolidated volumes in 2017. In terms of revenue, our non-beer activities generated 8.3% of consolidated revenue in 2019 compared to 8.4% in 2018 and 7.6% in 2017, based on our actual historical financial information for these periods.

Notes:

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Beer

Our brands are the foundation and the cornerstone of our relationships with consumers. We invest in our brands to create long-term and sustainable competitive advantages by meeting the various needs and expectations of consumers and by developing leading brand positions around the globe.

On the basis of quality and price, beer can be differentiated into the following categories:

Our brands are positioned across all of these categories. For example, a brand like Stella Artois generally targets the premium category across the globe, while a brand like Skol targets the core segment in Brazil and Natural Light targets the sub-premium category in the United States. We have a particular focus on core-to-premium categories but are also present in the value category where the market structure in a particular country necessitates its presence.

Our portfolio includes:

International Distribution

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North America

Middle Americas

South America

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EMEA

Africa

Asia Pacific

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In certain markets, we also distribute products of other brewers under licenses, such as Kirin in the United States. Within Europe, Compañía Cervecera de Canarias (in the Canary Islands) has an agreement in force to distribute Guinness in the Canary Islands.

Following the 50:50 merger of our businesses in Russia and Ukraine with Anadolu Efes, we granted the right to brew and/or distribute several of our brands including Bud, Stella Artois and Corona to AB InBev Efes, our combined business with Anadolu Efes.

Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverages

We take pride in empowering consumers to make smart drinking choices. As part of our 2025 Global Smart Drinking Goals, we are committed to ensuring that 20% of our global beer volume will be dedicated to no- and lower-alcohol products by the end of 2025. This commitment ensures that consumers have ample choice when making their responsible drinking decisions.

We have continued to expand our global portfolio of non-alcoholic beverages, which currently houses over 30 brands. As of 2019, six of our markets—China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Barbados and Ecuador—already have no- and low-alcohol beer representing more than 20% of their beer volumes. Additionally, Brahma 0.0% is the number one non-alcoholic beer in Brazil, reaching over 84.5% market share in the non-alcoholic beer category in 2019, according to AC Nielsen. Our additional non-alcohol beverage brands include Bud Prohibition in Canada and the UK, Beck’s NA in the United States, Canada, the UK and Germany, Jupiler 00 in Belgium and Castle Free in South Africa. See “—Beer” above for more information.

Near Beer

Some of our other malt beverages have stretched beyond typical beer occasions, such as the Rita family, Naturdays, Natural Light Seltzer and Bon Viv Spiked Seltzer in the United States and Palm Bay and Mike’s Hard Lemonade in Canada. These brands are designed to grow the near beer category and improve our market share of alcoholic beverage categories other than beer by addressing changing consumer trends and preferences.

Non-Beer

Non-Alcohol Beverages

While our core business is beer, we also have an important presence in the Non-Alcohol Beverages (“NAB”) market. We have NAB operations in Latin America and Africa, and our subsidiary Ambev has NAB operations in South America and the Caribbean. The NAB market includes both carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks.

Our NAB business includes both our own brands and agreements with PepsiCo, Inc. (“PepsiCo”) related to bottling and distribution of PepsiCo brands. Ambev has a long-term agreement with PepsiCo whereby it has been granted the exclusive right to bottle, sell and distribute certain PepsiCo brands in Brazil, including Pepsi-Cola, Gatorade, H2OH!, and Lipton Ice Tea. Through our Latin America South operations, Ambev is also PepsiCo’s bottler for Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia, as well as in the Dominican Republic and Panama. In Panama, we also produce and bottle other third-party soft drink brands, such as Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Squirt and Crush.

Apart from the bottling and distribution agreements with PepsiCo, Ambev also produces, sells and distributes its own soft drinks. Its main carbonated soft drinks brand is Guaraná Antarctica.

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In 2018, we completed the sale of our carbonated soft drink businesses in Zambia and Botswana to The Coca-Cola Company. In 2019, we completed the sale of all of our carbonated soft drink business in eSwatini (Swaziland) and certain non-alcoholic beverage brands in El Salvador and Honduras. In El Salvador and Honduras, we have executed long-term bottling agreements which became effective in 2019 upon the closing of the El Salvador and Honduras brand divestitures.

Together with The Coca-Cola Company, we continue to work towards finalizing the terms and conditions of the agreement for The Coca-Cola Company to acquire our interest in, or the bottling operations of, our business in Lesotho. This transaction is subject to the relevant regulatory and shareholder approvals.

We also have interests in certain water-bottling and distribution businesses in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru and throughout Africa, as well as agreements with Red Bull to distribute their portfolio in a few limited markets.

In the United States, we sell Teavana in partnership with Starbucks and an energy drink called Hiball.

Labatt, the Canadian subsidiary of our subsidiary Ambev, has entered into a joint venture with Tilray, a global player in cannabis production and distribution, to research non-alcohol beverages containing THC and CBD, and also to commercialize a non-alcohol CBD beverage in Canada only.

Other Alcoholic Beverages

We also have operations throughout Africa that produce relatively short-life traditional beer, brewed using sorghum under various brand names, including Chibuku, Chibuku Super, Invelo and Nzagamba.

We have further interests in wines and spirits operations and distribution businesses in certain markets, including Tanzania, Uganda and the Dominican Republic.

ZX Ventures

ZX Ventures is our global growth and innovation group whose mandate is to invest in and develop new products and businesses that address emerging consumer needs. We seed, launch and even scale new products that deliver customer experiences, from services that step-change convenience to rethinking delivery and more.

ZX Ventures operates multiple global business units of varying adjacency to our core beer business, including e-Commerce, craft and specialties, brand experience and our incubator and investment arm, Explore.

Z-Tech

Z-Tech is our global innovation group whose mission is to catalyze the growth of small and medium businesses worldwide through technology, creating an environment where those businesses and their families can thrive for the long term. Z-Tech teams make use of an agile methodology as they define small and medium businesses’ needs, explore marketplace and financial technology solutions, validate through proof-of-concept and pilot before scaling across the globe.

Z-Tech was created in 2019 and is currently active in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, with plans to expand to other markets in 2020.

We are a global brewer, with sales in over 150 countries across the globe.

The last two decades have been characterized by rapid growth in fast-growing developing markets, notably in certain regions of Africa, Asia and Central and South America, where we have significant sales.

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Each market in which we operate has its own dynamics and consumer preferences and trends. Given the breadth of our brand portfolio, we believe we are well-placed to address changing consumer needs in the various categories (premium, core and value) within any given market.

Effective 1 January 2019, we have been organized into six business segments.

The business segments and their corresponding countries are:

The table below sets out our total volumes broken down by business segment for the periods shown:

Notes:

On an individual country basis, our largest markets by volume listed, during the year ended 31 December 2019, in alphabetical order, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States, with each market having its own dynamics and consumer preferences and trends. Given the breadth of our brand portfolio, we believe we are well-placed to address changing consumer needs in the various categories (premium, core and value) within any given market.

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We believe our largest competitors are Heineken, Carlsberg, CR Snow and Molson Coors Brewing Company based on information from the Plato Logic Limited report for the calendar year 2018 (published in October 2019).

Historically, brewing was a local industry with only a few players having a substantial international presence. Larger brewing companies often obtained an international footprint through direct exports, licensing agreements and joint venture arrangements. However, the last several decades have seen a transformation of the industry, with a prolonged period of consolidation. This trend started within the more established beer markets of Western Europe and North America and took the form of larger businesses being formed through merger and acquisition activity within national markets. More recently, consolidation has also taken place within developing markets. Over the last decade, the global consolidation process has accelerated, with brewing groups making significant acquisitions outside of their domestic markets and increasingly looking to purchase other regional brewing organizations. As a result of this consolidation process, the absolute and relative size of the world’s largest brewers has substantially increased. Therefore, today’s leading international brewers have significantly more diversified operations and have established leading positions in a number of international markets.

We have participated in this consolidation trend and grown our international footprint through a series of mergers and acquisitions, described in “—A. History and Development of the Company,” which include:

The 10 largest brewers in the world in 2018 in terms of volume are as set out in the table below.

Note:

In each of our regional markets, we compete against a mixture of national, regional, local and imported beer brands. In North America, Brazil and other selected countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, we compete primarily with large leading international or regional brewers and international or regional brands.

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For information on how weather affects consumption of our products and the seasonality of our business, see “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—A. Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations—Weather and Seasonality.”

Brewing Process

The basic brewing process for most beers is straightforward, but significant know-how is involved in quality and cost control. The most important stages are brewing and fermentation, followed by maturation, filtering and packaging. Although malted barley (malt) is the primary ingredient, other grains such as unmalted barley, rice or wheat are sometimes added to produce different beer styles. The proportion and choice of other raw materials varies according to regional taste preferences and the type of beer.

The first step in the brewing process is making wort by mixing malt with warm water and then gradually heating it to around 75°C in large mash tuns to dissolve the starch and transform it into a mixture, called “mash,” of maltose and other sugars. The spent grains are filtered out and the liquid, now called “wort,” is boiled. Hops are added at this point to give a special bitter taste and aroma to the beer. The wort is boiled for one to two hours to sterilize and concentrate it, and extract the desired flavor and bitterness from the hops. Cooling follows, using a heat exchanger. The hopped wort is saturated with air, or oxygen, essential for the growth of the yeast in the next stage.

Yeast is a micro-organism that turns the sugar in the wort into alcohol and carbon dioxide. This process of fermentation takes five to 11 days, after which the wort finally becomes beer. Different types of beer are made using different strains of yeast and wort compositions. In some yeast varieties, the yeast cells rise to the top of the liquid at the end of fermentation. Ales and wheat beers are brewed with these “top-fermenting” yeast strains. Lagers are made using yeast strains that settle to the bottom of the liquid. Some special Belgian beers, called lambic or gueuze, use yet another method, where fermentation relies on spontaneous action by airborne yeasts.

During the maturation process, the liquid clarifies as yeast and other particles settle. Further filtering gives the beer more clarity. Maturation varies by type of beer and can take as long as three weeks, and then the beer is ready for packaging in kegs, cans or bottles.

Raw Materials and Packaging

The main raw materials used in our beer and other alcoholic malt beverage production are barley, corn grits, corn syrup, hops, yeast and water. In some of our regions, such as in Africa, locally sourced agricultural products such as sorghum or cassava are used in place of malted barley. For non-beer production (mainly carbonated soft drinks) the main ingredients are flavored concentrate, fruit concentrate, sugar, sweetener and water. In addition to these inputs into our products, delivery of our products to consumers requires extensive use of packaging materials such as glass, PET and aluminum bottles, aluminum or steel cans and kegs, aluminum can stock, labels, plastic crates, metal and plastic closures, folding cartons, cardboard products and plastic films.

We use only our own proprietary yeast, which we grow in our facilities. In some regions, we import hops to obtain adequate quality and appropriate variety for flavor and aroma. We purchase these ingredients through the open market and through contracts with suppliers. We also purchase barley and process it to meet our malt requirements at our malting plants.

Prices and sources of raw materials are determined by, among other factors:

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We hedge some of our commodities contracts on the financial markets and some of our malt requirements are purchased on the spot market. See “Item 11. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk—Market Risk, Hedging and Financial Instruments” and note 29 to our audited restated consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2019 and 2018, and for the three years ended 31 December 2019, for further details on commodities hedging.

We have supply contracts with respect to most packaging materials as well as our own production capacity as outlined below in “—Production Facilities.” The choice of packaging materials varies by cost and availability in different regions, as well as consumer preferences and the image of each brand. We also use aluminum cansheet for the production of beverage cans and lids.

Hops, PET resin and, to some extent, cans are mainly sourced globally. Malt, adjuncts (such as unmalted grains or fruit), sugar, steel, cans, labels, metal closures, soda ash for our glass plants, plastic closures, preforms and folding cartons are sourced regionally. Electricity is sourced nationally, while water is sourced locally, for example, from municipal water systems and private wells.

We use natural gas as the primary fuel for our plants, and diesel as the primary fuel for freight. We believe adequate supplies of fuel and electricity are available for the conduct of our business. The energy commodity markets have experienced, and can be expected to continue to experience, significant price volatility. We manage our energy costs using various methods including supply contracts, hedging techniques and fuel-switching.

Production Facilities

Our production facilities are spread across our regions, giving us a balanced geographical footprint in terms of production and allowing us to efficiently meet consumer demand across the globe. We manage our production capacity across our regions, countries and plants. We typically own our production facilities free of any major encumbrances. We also lease a number of warehouses and other commercial buildings from third parties. See “—11. Regulations Affecting Our Business” for a description of the environmental and other regulations that affect our production facilities.

Beverage Production Facilities

Our beverage production facilities comprised 229 breweries and/or non-beer plants as of 31 December 2019 spread across our regions. Of these 229 plants, 184 produced only beer and other alcoholic malt beverages, 13 produced only soft drinks and 32 produced beer, other alcoholic beverages and soft drinks. Except in limited cases (for example, our Hoegaarden brewery in Belgium), our breweries are not dedicated to one single brand of beer. This allows us to allocate production capacity efficiently within our group.

The table below sets out, for each of our business segments (excluding Global Export and Holdings Companies) in 2019, the number of our beverage production plants (breweries and/or non-beer drink plants) as well as the plants’ overall capacity.

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Notes:

Notes:

In addition to production facilities, we also maintain a geographical footprint in key markets through sales offices and distribution centers. Such offices and centers are opened as needs in the various markets arise.

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Capacity Expansion

We continually assess whether our production footprint is optimized to support future customer demand. Through footprint optimization, adding new capabilities (such as plants, packaging lines or distribution centers) to our footprint not only allows us to boost production capacity, but the strategic location often also reduces distribution time and costs so that our products reach consumers rapidly, efficiently and at a lower total cost. Conversely, footprint optimization can lead to divesting of some assets, such as reducing some production and distribution capabilities as needed to maintain the most optimal operational network.

For example, in 2019, we invested in additional brewing, packaging and distribution capacities in multiple countries including China, Korea, Argentina, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Belgium and others to meet our future demand expectations in these countries or for export volumes.

Our capital expenditures are primarily funded through cash from operating activities and are for production facilities, logistics, administrative capabilities improvements, hardware and software.

We may also outsource, to a limited extent, the production of items that we are either unable to produce in our own production network (for example, due to a lack of capacity during seasonal peaks) or for which we do not yet want to invest in new production facilities (for example, to launch a new product without incurring the full associated start-up costs). Such outsourcing mainly relates to secondary repackaging materials that we cannot practicably produce on our own, in which case our products are sent to external companies for repackaging (for example, gift packs with different types of beers).

Logistics

Our logistics organization is composed of (i) a first tier, which comprises all inbound flows into the plants of raw materials and packaging materials and all outbound flows from the plants into the second drop point in the chain (for example, distribution centers, warehouses, wholesalers or key accounts) and (ii) a second tier, which comprises all distribution flows from the second drop point into the customer delivery tier (for example, pubs or retailers).

Our transportation mechanics vary by market depending on economic and strategic considerations. We may outsource transportation to third-party contractors, retain such capability in-house or implement owner-driver programs, among other options.

Some of our breweries have warehouses that are attached to their production facilities. In places where our warehouse capacity is limited, external warehouses are rented. We strive to centralize fixed costs, which has resulted in some plants sharing warehouse and other facilities with each other.

Where it has been implemented, the VPO program has had a direct impact on our logistics organization, for example, in respect of safety, quality, environment, scheduling, warehouse productivity and loss-prevention actions.

We depend on effective distribution networks to deliver products to our customers. We review our focus markets for distribution and licensing agreements on an annual basis. The focus markets will typically be markets with an interesting premium category and with reliable and strong partners (brewers and/or importers). Based on these criteria, focus markets are then chosen.

The distribution of beer, other alcoholic beverages and non-beer drinks varies from country to country and from region to region. The nature of distribution reflects consumption patterns and market structure, geographical density of customers, local regulation, the structure of the local retail sector, scale considerations, market share, expected added-value and capital returns, and the existence of third-party wholesalers or distributors. In some markets, brewers distribute directly to customers (for example, in Belgium). In other markets, wholesalers may play an important role in distributing a significant proportion of beer to consumers, either in part for legal reasons (for example, in certain U.S. states and Canada where there may be legal constraints on the ability of a beer manufacturer to own a wholesaler), because of historical market practice (for example, in China and Argentina) or because we have determined that third-party wholesalers provide the most effective route of distribution (which is generally the case in the United States). In some instances, we have acquired third-party distributors to help us self-distribute our products, as we have done in Brazil and Mexico.

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The products we brew in the United States are sold to 423 wholesalers with the exclusive right to carry our products within a designated territory, for resale to retailers, with some entities owning more than one wholesalership. As of the end of 2019, we owned 16 of these wholesalers and have an ownership stake in another one of them. The remaining wholesalers are independent businesses. In certain countries, we enter into exclusive importer arrangements and depend on our counterparties to these arrangements to market and distribute our products to points of sale. In certain markets, we also distribute the products of other brewers.

We generally distribute our products through (i) our own distribution, in which we deliver to points of sale directly, and (ii) third-party distribution networks, in which delivery to points of sale occurs through wholesalers and independent distributors. In certain cases, we may own or have an ownership stake in a wholesaler. Third-party distribution networks may be exclusive or non-exclusive.

See “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—A. Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations—Distribution Arrangements” for a discussion of the effect of the choice of distribution arrangements on our results of operations.

As a customer-driven organization, we have programs for professional relationship building with our customers in all markets regardless of the chosen distribution method. This happens directly, for example, by way of key customer account management, and indirectly, by way of wholesaler excellence programs.

We seek to provide media advertising, point-of-sale advertising and sales promotion programs to promote our brands. Where relevant, we complement national brand strategies with geographic marketing teams focused on delivering relevant programming addressing local interests and opportunities.

In some markets, we may enter into license agreements or, alternatively, international distribution and/or importation agreements, depending on the best strategic fit for each particular market. License agreements entered into by us grant the right to third-party licensees to manufacture, package, sell and market one or several of our brands in a particular assigned territory under strict rules and technical requirements. In the case of international distribution and/or importation agreements, we produce and package the products ourselves while the third party distributes, markets and sells the brands in the local market.

We have entered into a number of licensing, distribution and importation agreements relating to our brands, including the following:

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We also manufacture and distribute Brahma, a brand owned by our Brazilian listed subsidiary, Ambev, in Peru and other third-party brands, such as Kirin in the United States. Ambev and some of our other subsidiaries have entered into manufacturing and distribution agreements with PepsiCo. Major brands that are distributed under this agreement are Pepsi-Cola, Lipton Ice Tea, H2OH! and Gatorade. See “—2. Principal Activities and Products—Non-Beer—Non-Alcohol Beverages” for further information in this respect. Ambev and some of our other subsidiaries also have license agreements with us which allow them to exclusively produce, distribute and market Beck’s and Stella Artois in Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Chile, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Antigua, Bolivia, Dominica and Saint Vincent, and Budweiser in Brazil, Argentina and Canada. Ambev also distributes Budweiser in Bolivia, Paraguay, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Uruguay and Chile and Corona in Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Guatemala, Panama and Canada.

Our brands are the foundation and cornerstone of our relationships with consumers and the key to our long-term success. Our brand portfolio, its enduring bonds with consumers and its partnerships with customers are our most important assets. We invest in our brands to create long-term sustainable competitive advantage by seeking to meet the beverage needs of consumers around the world and to develop leading brand positions in every market in which we operate.

Our brand portfolio consists of three global brands (Budweiser^®, Corona^® and Stella Artois^®), our multi-country brands (Beck’s^®, Hoegaarden^®, Leffe^® and Michelob Ultra^®), and many “local champions” (Aguila^®, Antarctica^®, Bud Light^®, Brahma^®, Cass^®, Castle^®, Castle Lite^®, Cristal^®, Harbin^®, Jupiler^®, Modelo Especial^®, Quilmes^®, Victoria^®, Sedrin^® and Skol^®). We believe this robust brand portfolio provides us with strong growth and revenue opportunities and, coupled with a powerful range of premium brands, positions us well to meet the needs of consumers in each of the markets in which we compete. For further information about our brands, see “—2. Principal Activities and Products—Beer.”

We seek to constantly strengthen and develop our brand portfolio through enhancement of brand quality, marketing and product innovation. Our marketing team therefore works together closely with our research and development team (see “—10. Intellectual Property; Innovation; Research and Development” for further information).

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We continually assess consumer needs and values in each geographic market in which we operate with a view to identifying the key characteristics of consumers in each beer category (that is, premium, core and value). This allows us to position our existing brands (or to introduce new brands) in order to address the characteristics of each category.

Our marketing approach is based on a “value-based brands” proposition, a single, clear, compelling values-based reason for consumer preference. The value-based brands approach involves, firstly, the determination of consumer portraits; secondly, brand attributes (that is, tangible characteristics of the brand that support the brand’s positioning) and brand personality (i.e., the way the brand would behave as a person) are defined; and, finally, a purpose statement that clearly articulates the role the brand will play in the lives of consumers. Once this link has been established, a particular brand can either be developed (brand innovation) or relaunched (brand renovation or line extension from the existing brand portfolio) to meet the customers’ needs. We apply zero-based planning principles to yearly budget decisions and for ongoing investment reviews and reallocations. We invest in each brand in line with its local or global strategic priority and, taking into account its local circumstances, seek to maximize profitable and sustainable growth.

For example, we focus our growth strategy for each of our brands based on a portfolio approach, which depends on the occasion in which our products are consumed (e.g., relaxing at home with friends; or socializing in a bar). Our portfolio of brands will vary by market, but each leverage our global platforms and initiatives, incorporating the whole organization from supply, to operations, to sales and marketing, and then bringing our teams together to deliver end-to-end integrated consumer experiences.

We own the rights to our principal brand names and trademarks in perpetuity for the main countries where these brands are currently commercialized (with the exception of the Modelo beer brands and certain former SAB brands licensed in the United States as described under “—8. Licensing” above).

Innovation is one of the key factors enabling us to achieve our strategy. We seek to combine technological know-how with market understanding to develop a healthy innovation pipeline in terms of production process, product and packaging features as well as branding strategy. In addition, as beer markets mature, innovation plays an increasingly important role by providing differentiated products with increased value to consumers.

Intellectual Property

Our intellectual property portfolio mainly consists of trademarks, patents, registered designs, copyrights, know-how and domain names. This intellectual property portfolio is managed by our internal legal department, in collaboration with a selected network of external intellectual property advisers. We place importance on achieving close cooperation between our intellectual property team and our marketing and research and development teams. An internal stage gate process promotes the protection of our intellectual property rights, the swift progress of our innovation projects and the development of products that can be launched and marketed without infringing any third party’s intellectual property rights. A project can only move on to the next step of its development after the necessary verifications (e.g., availability of trademark, existence of prior technology/earlier patents and freedom to market) have been carried out. This internal process is designed to ensure that financial and other resources are not lost due to oversights in relation to intellectual property protection during the development process.

Our patent portfolio is carefully built to gain a competitive advantage and support our innovation and other intellectual assets. We currently have more than 220 pending and granted patent families, each of which covers one or more technological inventions. The extent of the protection differs between technologies, as some patents are protected in many jurisdictions, while others are only protected in one or a few jurisdictions. Our patents may relate, for example, to brewing processes, improvements in production of fermented malt-based beverages, treatments for improved beer flavor stability, non-alcoholic beer development, filtration processes, beverage-dispensing systems and devices, can manufacturing processes, beer packaging or novel uses for brewing materials and disruptive technologies.

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We license in limited technology from third parties. We also license out certain of our intellectual property to third parties, for which we receive royalties.

Innovation, Research and Development

Given our focus on innovation, we place a high value on research and development (“R&D”). Our innovation strategy is translated into our R&D priorities, which consist of breakthrough innovation, incremental innovation and renovation (that is, updates and enhancements of existing products and packages). The main goal for the innovation process is to provide consumers with better products and experiences. This includes launching new liquids, new packaging and new dispensing systems that deliver better performance, both for the consumer and in terms of financial results, by increasing our competitiveness in the relevant markets. With consumers comparing products and experiences offered across very different beverage categories and the choice of beverages increasing, our R&D efforts also require an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of other beverage categories, spotting opportunities for beer and malt beverages and developing consumer solutions (products) that better address consumer needs and deliver better experiences. This requires understanding consumer emotions and expectations. Sensory experience, premiumization, convenience, sustainability and design are all central to our R&D efforts.

R&D in process optimization is primarily aimed at quality improvement, capacity increase (plant debottlenecking and addressing volume issues, while minimizing capital expenditure) and improving efficiency. Newly developed processes, materials and/or equipment are documented in best practices and shared across business regions. Current projects range from malting to bottling of finished products.

Knowledge management and learning also make up an integral part of research and development. We seek to continuously increase our knowledge through collaborations with universities and other industries.

Our R&D team is regularly briefed (on at least an annual basis) on our priorities and our business regions’ priorities and approves concepts and technologies which are subsequently prioritized for development. The R&D teams invest in both short- and long-term strategic projects for future growth, with the launch time depending on complexity and prioritization.

The Global Innovation and Technology Center, located in Leuven, Belgium, accommodates the Product, Packaging, Raw Material, Process and Dispense Development teams and has facilities such as Labs, Experimental Brewery and Sensory Analysis. In addition to the Global Innovation and Technology Center, we also have Product, Packaging and Process development teams located in each of our geographic regions focusing on the short- and medium-term development and implementation needs of such regions.

Our worldwide operations are subject to extensive regulatory requirements regarding, among other things, production, distribution, importation, marketing, promotion, labeling, advertising, labor, pensions and public health, consumer protection and environmental issues. For example, in the United States, federal and state laws regulate most aspects of the brewing, sale, marketing, labeling and wholesaling of our products. At the federal level, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the U.S. Treasury Department oversees the industry, and each state in which we sell or produce products, and some local authorities in jurisdictions in which we sell products, also have regulations that affect the business conducted by us and other brewers and wholesalers. It is our policy to abide by the laws and regulations around the world that apply to us or to our business. We rely on legal and operational compliance programs, as well as local in-house and external counsel, to guide our businesses in complying with applicable laws and regulations of the countries in which we operate.

See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Certain of our operations depend on independent distributors or wholesalers to sell our products, and we may be unable to replace distributors or acquire interests in wholesalers or distributors. In addition, we may be adversely impacted by the consolidation of retailers,” “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Negative publicity, perceived health risks, failure to provide safe working environments and associated government regulation may harm our business,” “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—We could

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incur significant costs as a result of compliance with, and/or violations of or liabilities under, various regulations that govern our operations,” “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Climate change or other environmental concerns, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change or other environmental concerns, may negatively affect our business or operations, including the availability of key production inputs,” “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—Our subsidiary Ambev operates a joint venture in Cuba, in which the Government of Cuba is its joint venture partner. Cuba remains subject to comprehensive economic and trade sanctions by the United States and Ambev’s operations in Cuba may adversely affect our reputation and the liquidity and value of our securities” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—A. Key Factors Affecting Results of Operations—Governmental Regulations.”

Production, advertising, marketing and sales of alcoholic beverages are subject to various restrictions around the world, often based on health considerations related to the misuse or harmful use of alcohol. These range from a complete prohibition of alcohol in certain countries and cultures through the prohibition of the import of alcohol, to restrictions on the advertising style, media and messages used. In a number of countries, television is a prohibited medium for advertising alcohol products, and in other countries, television advertising, while permitted, is carefully regulated. Media restrictions may constrain our brand-building and innovation potential. Labeling of our products is also regulated in certain markets, varying from health warning labels to importer identification, alcohol strength and other consumer information. Specific warning statements related to the risks of misusing alcohol products, including beer, have also become prevalent in recent years. Introduction of smoking bans in pubs and restaurants may have negative effects on on-trade consumption (that is, beer purchased for consumption in a pub or restaurant or similar retail establishment), as opposed to off-trade consumption (i.e., beer purchased at a retail outlet for consumption at home or another location). We believe that the regulatory environment in most countries in which we operate is becoming increasingly stringent with respect to health issues and expect this trend to continue in the future.

The distribution of our beer and other alcoholic beverage products may also be regulated. In certain markets, alcohol may only be sold through licensed outlets, varying from government- or state-operated monopoly outlets (e.g., in the off-trade channel of certain Canadian provinces) to the common system of licensed on-trade outlets (e.g., licensed bars and restaurants) which prevails in many countries (e.g., in much of the European Union). In the United States, states operate under a three-tier system of regulation for beer products from brewer to wholesaler to retailer, meaning that we usually work with licensed third-party distributors to distribute our products to the points of sale.

In the United States, both federal and state laws generally prohibit us from providing anything of value to retailers, including paying slotting fees or (subject to exceptions) holding ownership interests in retailers. Some states prohibit us from being licensed as a wholesaler for our products. State laws also regulate the interactions among us, our wholesalers and consumers by, for example, limiting merchandise that can be provided to consumers or limiting promotional activities that can be held at retail premises. If we violate applicable federal or state alcoholic beverage laws, we could be subject to a variety of sanctions, including fines, equitable relief and suspension or permanent revocation of our licenses to brew or sell our products.

Governments in most of the countries in which we operate also establish minimum legal drinking ages, which generally vary from 16 to 21 years of age or impose other restrictions on sales. Some governments have imposed or are considering imposing minimum pricing on alcohol products. Moreover, governments may seek to address harmful use of alcohol by raising the legal drinking age, further limiting the number, type or operating hours of retail outlets or expanding retail licensing requirements. We work both independently and together with other brewers and alcoholic beverage companies to tackle the harmful use of alcohol products and actively promote responsible sales and consumption.

Growing concern over the rise of obesity and obesity-related diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes, are accelerating global policy debates on reducing consumption of sugar in beverages and foods. This may have an impact on our soft drink business.

We are subject to antitrust and competition laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate and may be subject to regulatory scrutiny in certain of these jurisdictions. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—We are exposed to antitrust and competition laws in certain jurisdictions and the risk of changes in such laws or in the interpretation and enforcement of existing antitrust and competition laws. In addition, in connection with our previous acquisitions, various regulatory authorities have previously imposed conditions with which we are required to comply.”

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In many jurisdictions, excise and other indirect duties, including legislation regarding minimum alcohol pricing, make up a large proportion of the cost of beer charged to customers. In the United States, for example, the brewing industry is subject to significant taxation. The United States federal government currently levies an excise tax of USD 6 per barrel (equivalent to approximately 117 liters) for the first 6 million barrels of beer sold for consumption in the United States and then USD 18 per barrel for every barrel thereafter. All states also levy excise taxes on alcoholic beverages. Proposals have been made to increase excise taxes in some states. In recent years, a number of countries have adopted proposals to increase beer excise taxes. Rising excise duties can drive up our pricing to the consumer, which in turn could have a negative impact on our results of operations. See “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business—We may be subject to adverse changes in taxation and other tax-related risks.”

Our products are generally sold in glass or PET bottles or aluminum or steel cans. Legal requirements apply in various jurisdictions in which we operate, requiring that deposits or certain eco-taxes or fees are charged for the sale, marketing and use of certain non-refillable beverage containers. The precise requirements imposed by these measures vary. Other types of beverage-container-related deposit, recycling, eco-tax and/or extended producer responsibility statutes and regulations also apply in various jurisdictions in which we operate.

We are subject to different environmental legislation and controls in each of the countries in which we operate. Environmental laws in the countries in which we operate mostly relate to (i) the conformity of our operating procedures with environmental standards regarding, among other things, the emission of gas and liquid effluents, (ii) the disposal of one-way (that is, non-returnable) packaging and (iii) noise levels. We believe that the regulatory climate in most countries in which we operate is becoming increasingly strict with respect to environmental issues and expect this trend to continue in the future. Achieving compliance with applicable environmental standards and legislation may require plant modifications and capital expenditures. Laws and regulations may also limit noise levels and the disposal of waste, as well as impose waste treatment and disposal requirements. Some of the jurisdictions in which we operate have laws and regulations that require polluters or site owners or occupants to clean up contamination.

The amount of dividends payable to us by our operating subsidiaries is, in certain countries, subject to exchange control restrictions of the respective jurisdictions where those subsidiaries are organized and operate. See also “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—G. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Transfers from Subsidiaries” and “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—We are exposed to developing market risks, including the risks of devaluation, nationalization and inflation.”

Iran-Related Required Disclosure

The Iran Threat Reduction and Syria Human Rights Act of 2012 requires disclosure of certain activities relating to Iran by AB InBev or its affiliates that occurred during our 2019 fiscal year. Anadolu Efes, our affiliate, has a licensing agreement with an Iranian company for the production of non-alcoholic beer in Iran. Pursuant to that licensing agreement, Anadolu Efes will receive EUR 80,343 (USD 95,002) in gross revenue for 2019, from which it expects to record no net profit. Anadolu Efes plans to continue its licensing arrangement.

We self-insure most of our insurable risk. However, we do purchase insurance for directors’ and officers’ liability and other coverage where required by law or contract or where considered to be in our best interest. Under the Co-operation Agreement (as defined herein), we have procured the provision of directors’ and officers’ liability insurance for former directors and officers of SAB for a period of six years following the completion of the combination with SAB. We maintain a comprehensive approach to insurable risk, which is mainly divided in two general categories:

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We believe we have an adequate approach to insurable risk based on our market capitalization and our worldwide presence. We further believe that the types and level of insurance we maintain are appropriate for the risks of our business.

Our Dream is Bringing People Together for a Better World. In all we do, we strive to ensure that we produce the highest-quality products, provide the best consumer experience, and maximize shareholder value by building the strongest competitive and financial position.

Through our reach, resources and energy, we are addressing the needs of our communities through:

Improving environmental and social sustainability

We depend on natural resources to brew our beers and strive to use resources responsibly and preserve them for the future. That is why we factor sustainability into how we do business, including how we source water, energy and raw materials. We develop innovative programs across our supply chain to improve our sustainability performance with our business partners. To improve lives in the communities we are part of, we also support the farmers and small retailers in our value chain to help them be more productive. To facilitate progress, we combined our sustainability and procurement activities under a single function led by a member of our senior leadership team.

2025 Sustainability Goals

We are contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and broader global sustainable development agenda while building resilient supply chains, productive communities and a healthier environment. In March 2018, following the achievement of our 2017 Environmental Goals, we have announced 2025 Sustainability Goals, our most ambitious set of public commitments yet, which focus on four areas: smart agriculture, water stewardship, circular packaging and climate action.

In addition, we have launched the 100+ Sustainability Accelerator in August 2018 to identify and scale up innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing sustainability challenges. Through the 100+ Accelerator, we continue to identify partners who can deliver breakthrough advancements in water stewardship, farmer productivity, product upcycling, responsible sourcing, green logistics and more.

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Helping entrepreneurial small businesses grow and thrive

As part of our commitment to help communities thrive, we have a responsibility to help the small businesses in our supply chain. From the suppliers that help power our production to the retailers that connect with our consumers every day, small businesses play a vital role as an engine of economic growth and employment. They are critical to the success of our business operations.

We value our relationships with our small business partners and recognize the challenges many face in sustaining and growing their operations, such as limited business skills and the need for affordable financial services and infrastructure. As their business partner, we believe we can help them address these barriers to unlock their entrepreneurial potential and enable us to grow together.

Our Creciendo por un Sueño (“Growing for a Dream”) program aims to empower 80,000 women-run small retailers in Colombia, Peru and Ecuador by providing access to tools like business skills training and affordable financial services that aim to help improve their livelihoods and business operations.

Our business in South Africa has an ambitious goal to create 10,000 jobs. Working in partnership with non-governmental organizations (“NGOs”), the South African government and the private sector, the program supports entrepreneurs to develop and grow their businesses, and offers opportunities for them to become part of the South African Breweries’ supply chain. The initiative aims to contribute to South Africa’s national agenda of growing the economy through the provision of jobs and offers tailored support for youth and women.

Creating resilient agricultural supply chains

About half of our malt barley is locally sourced to reduce the risk of supply chain disruption and exposure to currency volatility, while boosting rural economies and strengthening agriculture. In 2019 we continued to build resilient agricultural systems, by working with over 20,000 farmers across 13 countries to support the growth of our six priority crops (barley, cassava, hops, maize, rice and sorghum). We have put in place programs and partnerships to ensure that our farmers have access to good seed varieties and technical training (skilled), improved insights and data (connected), and the ability to invest in and grow their business (financially empowered). SmartBarley has been our primary agricultural development program since 2013, currently live in 12 countries. In 2019, we partnered with Sentera to pair field-level data from SmartBarley with weather and imagery analytics to improve yield and reduce impact of climate change.

Supporting Smallholder Farmers

Agriculture is a critical source of income and livelihoods in a number of markets in Africa, where we have pioneered the use of under-commercialized local crops to create new affordable beer brands – like Eagle Lager, made with local sorghum in Uganda, and Impala, made with local cassava in Mozambique. This strategy allows us to reach new consumers while increasing incomes for local smallholder farmers. After an initial pilot in Zambia with positive results in 2018, in 2019 we partnered with a startup called BanQu to employ an SMS-based service backed by blockchain to record purchasing and sales data of our supply chain offering farmers a digital financial identity as well as sending digital payments and reducing cash transactions, and thereby lowering risk to our farmers.

Buy A Lady A Drink

The Stella Artois Buy A Lady A Drink initiative, launched in 2015 in partnership with Water.org, challenges consumers to be the generation that ends the global water crisis. Each purchase of a limited-edition Stella Artois chalice helps provide one woman in the developing world with five years of clean water. To date, Stella Artois has helped Water.org provide more than one million people in the developing world with access to clean water through the sale of more than 500,000 Limited-Edition Chalices and by directly donating more than USD 8 million to Water.org In 2019, the partnership provided clean water access to 300,000 people in the developing world.

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Watershed Protection

We continue to scale our water stewardship efforts by engaging in watershed protection measures, in partnership with local stakeholders, in high-stress areas across Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, India, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Peru, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, the United States and Zambia. Together with local authorities, other water users, and non-governmental organizations like the World Wildlife Fund and The Nature Conservancy, we have devoted financial and technical resources to green infrastructure initiatives, conservation and reforestation projects, habitat restoration efforts, and soil conservation techniques. To date we have invested in long-term solutions across 24 communities where we seek to increase water security and improve water quality and availability for our communities and operations.

Renewable Energy

We are one of the world’s largest corporate buyers of electricity, a member of the RE100 and we are committed to a plan to significantly increase our use of renewable energy in our breweries and vertical operations to reduce our carbon emissions and long-term energy cost, improve air quality and create jobs in the renewable energy industry. In 2016, we signed a contract to acquire 100% of our purchased electricity needs from wind power in our Mexico breweries and vertical operations by the second half of 2019. In September 2017, we announced an agreement with Enel Green Power in the United States where we committed to purchasing as much renewable electricity as is used to brew more than 20 billion 12-ounce servings of beer. In December 2018, we signed a 100MW solar power purchase agreement with Lightsource BP to secure renewable electricity for our U.K. operations, representing the largest unsubsidized solar energy deal in the United Kingdom to date. In 2019 we signed new renewable electricity contracts in Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, South Africa, Vietnam and the UK. Today, 20% of our global purchased electricity comes from renewable sources and another 41% is already under contract.

Recycling

We are driving and protecting the circular economy of our industry by increasing the amount of reused or recycled materials in our packaging and recovering more post-consumer waste. We aim to work with partners, suppliers and retailers across our value chain in this effort. Packaging, such as returnable glass bottles, is an important component of this effort, and increasing recycling, recovery and reuse also helps avoid loss of value.

Other Initiatives

We are also engaged with the international community and local groups to support key environmental initiatives. We recognize the critical role that companies can play in addressing some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, such as water scarcity and climate change. We are a signatory to the CEO Water Mandate, a public/private initiative of the United Nations Global Compact, which focuses on developing corporate strategies to address global water issues. We actively work to better understand and manage climate change and water risks across our supply chain and publicly report our risks and opportunities to the Carbon Disclosure Project.

We take a multifaceted approach that includes applying a mix of operational changes and technological solutions, building effective partnerships and having a sustainability-focused mindset, underscored by strong teamwork, in order to help reduce the use of water in our direct operations, protect watersheds that serve our breweries and local communities and improve water management in our barley supply chain.

We are members of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable, a technical coalition of leading global beverage companies working together to advance environmental sustainability within the beverage sector. We are members of the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, a global food industry organization that supports the development of sustainable agriculture through the involvement of food chain stakeholders. In addition, we are active participants in the United Nations Environment Program’s annual World Environment Day, through which we engage annually with many community stakeholders around the world.

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Energy conservation has been a strategic focus for us for many years, especially with the unpredictable cost of energy and evolving climate change regulations. Our continued progress is based on the importance we place on sharing best technical and management practices across our operations. We publicly report our risks and opportunities related to climate change to the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Promoting smart drinking

We want every experience with beer to be a positive one. We believe that the harmful use of alcohol is bad for consumers, society and our business. We established our Global Smart Drinking Goals in December 2015 to contribute to the World Health Organization’s target of reducing the harmful use of alcohol by at least 10% in every country by 2025 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of strengthening the prevention of harmful use of alcohol globally.

Smart Drinking

We are a global company, brewing beers and building brands that will continue to bring people together for a better world for the next 100 years and beyond. This requires thriving communities across the globe where harmful use of alcohol no longer presents a social challenge. Our Smart Drinking commitments, and the beliefs that underpin them, will help make this vision a reality.

In 2014, we successfully met or exceeded all six of the original Global Responsible Drinking Goals we set for ourselves in 2011. This set of goals included collaborations with a wide range of partners, public education initiatives, retailer training and other activities that reinforced responsible drinking.

Our current Global Smart Drinking Goals are intended to serve as a laboratory to identify and test replicable programs, implement them in partnership with others and ensure they are independently and transparently evaluated. Our goals are also designed to be collaborative and evolving. Working in partnership with public health bodies, civil society and governments, we aim to implement evidence-based approaches, uncover new ways to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, and act upon them. Our intent is not only to use the knowledge generated by this work to improve our own efforts and business practices, but also to share what we learn with others.

Our four Global Smart Drinking Goals are:

Our City Pilots initiative is the cornerstone of our efforts to identify, test and independently and rigorously measure and evaluate replicable evidence-based interventions that are implemented in partnership with others, to reduce harmful use of alcohol. The City Pilots serve as laboratories for identifying evidence-based initiatives worth scaling. The six City Pilots are: Brasilia, Brazil; Zacatecas, Mexico; Johannesburg, South Africa; Jiangshan, China; Leuven, Belgium and Columbus, Ohio. Local knowledge and leadership are critical to the City Pilot approach. In each region, a Steering Committee was formed with local community members, including government, universities, NGOs and other community-based organizations.

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Our Social Norms initiative is not just about spending a specified amount, but rather spending with impact, which requires the development and implementation of campaigns and programs grounded in social norms and social marketing theory. We have partnered with experts in this field to gather and consolidate the latest social marketing knowledge and best practices and apply them to the promotion of smart drinking. In 2018 we produced a Social Marketing Toolkit for our marketing teams around the world, working in close collaboration with public health and behavior change experts. This Toolkit is a practical guide that collates and distills information about our Global Smart Drinking Goals, behavior change theory, social norms and social marketing principles and includes a comprehensive library of AB InBev harmful consumption of alcohol prevention initiatives to date, so that all our business units can replicate best practices easily. In 2019, we launched the 2^nd edition of our Global Smart Drinking Campaign Competition. This competition challenges all our brand teams across the world to develop innovative ideas for social marketing campaigns that contribute for positive behavioral change. In 2019, 45 brand teams from 23 countries competed. The winners of each business unit get the opportunity to use a percentage of the Marketing Media Budget towards the campaign.

Through our No- and Low-Alcohol Beer initiative, we are offering consumers more choice, which we believe can be an important way to help reduce harmful use of alcohol. Our ambition is for existing drinkers to integrate no-alcohol beers and beer with 3.5% ABV or lower into their current drink choices, reducing their total alcohol intake. To make this ambition a reality, we are investing to make our no- and low-alcohol products an available and appealing choice for current consumers of beverage alcohol. We have applied the same robust sales tracking tools to our no- and low-alcohol beers to identify opportunities for growth and help us get closer to achieving our volume goal. In 2019, we launched 14 new No- and Low-Alcohol Beer brands for a total of 86 brands in our portfolio. In 2019, No- and Low-Alcohol Beer brands accounted for 7% of our global beer volume.

Our Alcohol Health Literacy initiative exemplifies our belief in helping consumers understand why and how alcohol should be consumed within limits. We are collaborating with partners to identify and implement evidence-based means of increasing alcohol literacy among consumers. The AB InBev Foundation is supporting public health researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine to develop a consumer guidance labelling strategy for beer that will promote alcohol health literacy and reflect the current evidence base for consumer labelling.

To further advance our Global Smart Drinking Goals, we established the AB InBev Foundation in 2017. The Foundation’s mission is to reduce harmful drinking globally by identifying effective programs and policies for public-private partnerships to advance positive social and behavior change. The Foundation has established the following guiding principles: transparency—sharing what the Foundation does and what it learns with others; local leadership—demonstrating multi-sectorial, community collaborations, empowered by evidence-based interventions and external experts and academic integrity—advancing the knowledge base by supporting independent, technical experts to implement and evaluate programs and publish their own work and conclusions. In 2019, the Foundation made significant progress towards the mission of accelerating the reduction of harmful drinking: work the Foundation supported was represented at 15 conferences or panel events and 8 academic articles were published about projects funded by the Foundation.

Investing in road safety

As a major user of roads around the world and its largest brewer, we are committed to delivering safer roads for all, Around the world, we invest in innovative programs to improve road safety and reduce injuries and fatalities from traffic collisions. This work is aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-Being) and the ambitious target of halving the global number of deaths and injuries from road traffic crashes by 2020.

Safe roads are also a high priority for governments and advocacy groups, and we are strengthening the impact of our efforts through partnerships. These include our leadership in Together for Safer Roads (“TSR”), a private-sector coalition focused on improving road safety by facilitating innovation in safer fleets, data collection and modern management. Also, our partnership with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) that continued across 2019 and led to the launch of the Management Practices for Safer Roads Toolkit.

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Internally in our business, we dedicate significant time and resources to researching, testing and implementing road safety technology and innovative techniques to increase the road safety of our fleet, which in turn improves community safety. Some of the techniques we have implemented are: monitoring the location and performance of vehicles, crash and near-miss analysis, and addressing and avoiding driver fatigue using tools like telemetry and artificial intelligence.

Increasing workplace safety

We are committed to doing everything possible to create a safe work environment. We encourage employees and contractors to follow safe practices and make healthy choices in our workplaces and local communities.

Business ethics

Our leaders set the tone for our company. We expect them to deliver results and to inspire our colleagues through passion for brewing and a sense of ownership. Most importantly, we never take shortcuts. Integrity, hard work, quality and responsibility are essential to our growth.

Human Rights

Respecting human rights is a non-negotiable commitment for our business. We have been a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact since 2005 and are committed to the principles and guidance contained in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. In 2019, we refreshed our Global Human Rights Policy and we continue to participate in industry and NGO initiatives that seek to improve business’ approach to respecting human rights.

Our People

It takes great people to build a great company. That is why we focus on attracting and retaining the best talent. Our approach is to enhance our people’s skills and potential through education and training, competitive compensation and a culture of ownership that rewards people for taking responsibility and producing results. Our ownership culture unites our people, providing the necessary energy, commitment and alignment needed to pursue our Dream of Bringing People Together for a Better World.

Having the right people in the right roles at the right time—aligned through a clear goal-setting and rewards process—improves productivity and enables us to continue to invest in our business and strengthen our social responsibility initiatives.

Acting in our communities

Volunteering is one of the best ways to bring people together for a better world. In communities around the world—both large and small—our people are passionate about empowering communities. We encourage these efforts through regional and global volunteering initiatives that are often also open to our families, friends, partners and consumers.

One key global program is Global Be(er) Responsible Day, which in 2018 engaged more than 62,000 colleagues worldwide to promote awareness about smart drinking. Together, we spread smart drinking messages to more than 3.6 million consumers on one day through direct interactions, generating over 215 million social media impressions. We also engaged with more than 1.1 million points of consumption, retailers and wholesalers throughout the month of September.

Our local teams also organized their own volunteering efforts. In Mexico, our volunteering program Voluntarios Modelo engaged more than 180,000 people in volunteering activities in their communities, including many of our colleagues. In Brazil, our Volunteering Program VOA provided management training to 115 NGOs leveraging the management expertise of 554 of our colleagues, impacting over 5 million people indirectly. In Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, our volunteering program #MeUno engaged more than 67,000 volunteers in environmental and educational activities. In the United States, South Africa and Colombia, our Pro Bono Marathon leveraged the skills of 194 colleagues to help 13 non-profit partners solve organizational challenges.

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Supporting disaster response

In 2019, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires and other natural disasters struck with great force and frequency in many communities. We supported disaster relief and recovery efforts, mainly through emergency drinking water donations and provision of funds. In the United States, we donated over 1.4 million cans of emergency drinking water, leveraging a long-standing partnership with the American Red Cross, and added the necessary equipment to produce canned drinking water out of our brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado, in September 2018. In South Africa, we provided emergency drinking water to people affected by the drought in Cape Town. In Brazil, we provided funds and in-kind donations to hundreds of people who were displaced by the urban fire that affected the city of Manaus. In India, after floods hit the state of Kerala, 1,500 volunteers dedicated 6,000 hours to supply 185,000 bottles of drinking water to 20,000 families in areas of need. We also developed a Global Disaster Preparedness Toolkit so more of our Business Units can play a role in improving the resilience of communities to prepare, respond to and recover from disasters.

For a more comprehensive list of our most important financing and operating subsidiaries, see note 37 of our audited restated consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2019 and 2018, and for the three years ended 31 December 2019.

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D. PROPERTY, PLANTS AND EQUIPMENT

For a further discussion of property, plants and equipment, see “Item 3. Key Information—D. Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Business — Climate change or other environmental concerns, or legal, regulatory or market measures to address climate change or other environmental concerns, may negatively affect our business or operations, including the availability of key production inputs,” “—B. Business Overview—6. Brewing Process; Raw Materials and Packaging; Production Facilities; Logistics—Capacity Expansion,” “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—G. Liquidity and Capital Resources—Capital Expenditures” and “Item 5. Operating and Financial Review—J. Outlook and Trend Information.”