Molson Coors Beverage Co. is raising a small drink to the start of the year as the company reported a 2% sales increase in the first quarter.
Molson Coors, which has a large Milwaukee operation, reported the results on April 30, saying the company’s performance is in line with what executives expected.
“We delivered a solid start to the year while executing our strategy in a dynamic external environment with limited near-term visibility,” said President and CEO Rahul Goyal, in a statement.
“As we head into summer, we recognize the external environment remains fluid and plan to approach the season’s most important occasions with scale and impact across our global portfolio, while continuing to focus on returning Molson Coors to sustained growth,” Goyal said.
At bars, restaurants and other venues “our top six brands all delivered share growth,” he said during a call with analysts.
Those brands are Miller Lite, Miller High Life, Coors Light, Banquet, Peroni, and Blue Moon.
In 2025, Molson Coors reported a 4.2% sales decrease for the year and a pretax loss of $2.5 billion. The company ended the year laying off roughly 9% of salaried employees.
Molson Coors sales to be flat or down slightly in 2026
The company expects sales to be flat or minus 1% in 2026 compared to 2025. In the second quarter. the company expects shipments to be down 6% to 9% compared to the previous year.
Inflation and tariffs have continued to provide elements of uncertainty in the market. Also, the war in Iran is “impacting fuel costs and consumer sentiment,” Goyal said.
The company is planning large media buys and marketing campaigns around the United States 250th anniversary and the World Cup, which is being hosted in North America.
Goyal said the company’s cocktails and non-alcoholic brands, which it calls “beyond beer,” is the “fastest growing part of our portfolio.”
Molson Coors recently acquired Atomic Brands Inc., the maker of Monaco Cocktails, for $275 million.
Monaco is a ready-to-drink cocktail in a can, and its distribution network overlaps with much of Molson Coors’ products.
“We see significant opportunity to further scale Monaco, including through increased marketing support and expansion through chain retailers,” Goyal said in a March statement.
“We also plan to deploy the same feet-on-the-street model that has made Monaco successful, which will enable us to maintain pressure in core markets and help drive our broader flavor portfolio in c-stores,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Molson Coors reports 2% sales increase. Non-beer brands growing
Reporting by Ricardo Torres, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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