• Net income from continuing operations attributable to MCBC: $194.7 million, -24.2% ($1.05 per diluted share)⁽¹⁾
• Underlying after-tax income⁽²⁾: $212.4 million, -11.2% ($1.14 per diluted share)
• Net sales: $954.4 million, +9.1%
• Worldwide beer volume: 13.13 million hectoliters, -0.8%

DENVER & MONTREAL, Nov 02, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE: TAP; TSX) today reported 9.1 percent higher net sales and an 11.2 percent decrease in underlying after-tax income for the third quarter 2011, driven by weak economic conditions, lower volume and cost inflation. Net income from continuing operations attributable to MCBC (a U.S. GAAP earnings measure) declined 24.2 percent due to cycling a $42.3 million non-core pretax gain on the Company's former Foster's swap in 2010, lower underlying income this year, and higher MillerCoors special charges.

Molson Coors president and chief executive officer Peter Swinburn said, "In the third quarter, our underlying after-tax earnings decreased 11 percent, as we continued to face high unemployment among core beer consumers, lower volume, and significant commodity inflation. What's new in the third quarter is additional MG&A expense in the U.S. business and incremental weakness in the U.K. on-premise channel. While the MillerCoors MG&A increase was anticipated, we did not expect the degree of softness in the U.K. market.

"Nonetheless, we continued to pursue all three of our growth strategies: maximizing the value of our core markets, expanding our exposure to emerging markets, and taking advantage of smart M&A opportunities. With these growth strategies, profit and cash generation, and our disciplined use of cash, we remain tightly focused on building long-term value for our shareholders."

Stock Repurchase Program

On August 2, 2011, Molson Coors Brewing Company announced its Board of Directors had approved a new program authorizing the repurchase of up to $1.2 billion of the Company's Class B Common shares (subsequently amended to also include Class A Common shares), with an expected program term of three years. In the third quarter 2011, the Company deployed cash to repurchase 6.3 million Class B Common shares for $271 million, which is approximately 23 percent of the total program authorization.

Cost Savings Highlights

In the third quarter, the Company delivered $18 million of Resources for Growth Two (RFG2) cost reductions.

MillerCoors achieved cost savings of $27 million in the third quarter and has now delivered $738 million in synergies and other costs savings since beginning operations on July 1, 2008. Molson Coors benefits from 42 percent of these cost savings.

Foreign Exchange

The Company's third quarter results include the benefit of favorable foreign currency movements, which increased underlying pretax income by approximately $6.7 million.

Effective Tax Rate

The Company's third quarter effective tax rate was 14 percent on a reported basis and 16 percent on an underlying basis. The Company now estimates that its underlying effective tax rate will be in the range of 12 percent to 16 percent for full-year 2011 and mid-single digits for the fourth quarter, assuming no further changes in tax laws.

Debt

Total debt at the end of the third quarter was $1.95 billion, and cash and cash equivalents totaled $0.99 billion, resulting in net debt of $0.96 billion.

3^rd Quarter Business Segment Results

Following are the Company's third quarter 2011 results by business segment:

Canada Business

Canada underlying pretax income increased 0.2 percent to $162.3 million in the quarter. Increased net pricing, marketing, general and administrative (MG&A) expense reductions and favorable foreign currency were offset by cost inflation and the effect of asset-value and cost adjustments. These results include an $8 million⁽³⁾ benefit from a 7 percent year-over-year increase in the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar.

Canada sales-to-retail (STRs) for the quarter decreased 0.6 percent largely due to increased competitor price discounting in key regions. Our market share declined approximately half a share point from a year ago, driven by a challenging comparison versus the third quarter last year, when we grew market share by almost a full point. Canadian beer industry STRs increased nearly 1 percent in the third quarter.

Molson Coors Canada sales volume increased slightly in the quarter to 2.5 million hectoliters. Net sales per hectoliter increased nearly 4 percent in local currency, with one-third of this increase driven by continued positive pricing and the remainder due to the addition of North American Breweries (NAB) contract brewing sales this year.

Cost of goods sold (COGS) per hectoliter increased 16 percent in local currency, driven by three approximately equal factors: 1) input inflation, 2) the cost of brewing beer under our NAB contract, and 3) asset value adjustments this year and cycling one-time cost reductions last year.

MG&A expenses decreased 7 percent in local currency due to lower overhead expenses.

United States Business (MillerCoors)⁽⁴⁾

Molson Coors underlying U.S. segment pretax income decreased 16.3 percent to $120.6 million in the quarter.

MillerCoors Operating and Financial Highlights

MillerCoors underlying net income for the quarter, excluding special items, decreased 14.1 percent to $286.9 million, driven by declining volumes and higher commodity inflation, which more than offset positive pricing, favorable brand mix and cost savings.

MillerCoors domestic STRs declined 2.0 percent in a market which continued to be impacted by high unemployment and subdued consumer spending. Domestic sales-to-wholesalers (STWs) declined 4.7 percent, with the variance to STRs driven by the timing of shipments last year.

Domestic net revenue per hectoliter increased 1.8 percent, driven by favorable pricing and brand mix. Total company net revenue per hectoliter, including contract brewing and company-owned distributor sales, increased 1.7 percent.

COGS per hectoliter increased 3.2 percent, due to higher freight, fuel, and packaging costs, fixed-cost deleverage, and an out-of-period depreciation charge of $5.2 million, which were partially offset by cost savings.

MG&A costs increased 3.2 percent, driven primarily by higher information system spending, an out-of-period depreciation charge of $7.3 million, and higher marketing expense.

Depreciation and amortization expenses in the quarter were $87.0 million, and additions to tangible and intangible assets totaled $62.2 million.

United Kingdom Business

U.K. underlying pretax income decreased by 25.3 percent to $27.4 million in the quarter, due to overall lower volumes, lower net pricing, and higher marketing investments and operations costs. The British Pound appreciated approximately 4 percent versus the U.S. Dollar, which improved pretax earnings by approximately $1 million.

U.K. STRs decreased 2.9 percent due to a weak U.K. on-premise channel impacted by the economic climate, along with a temporary off-premise volume reduction in our business. Overall industry volumes increased 1.6% from a year ago. Our business grew share and net price in the on-premise channel, but share and price declined in the off-premise as we transition through some channel and customer dynamics.

Net sales per hectoliter of owned brands increased 5 percent in local currency, with 6 percent driven by positive sales mix in the quarter, especially the addition of the Modelo brands. Net pricing was 1 percent lower than last year, impacted by increasingly competitive market dynamics and adverse customer mix in the off-premise.

Total COGS per hectoliter increased 10 percent in local currency, primarily due to the addition of the Modelo brands. Other factors include input inflation, fixed-cost deleverage from lower volumes, and expenses related to a major information system implementation.

MG&A expenses decreased nearly 7 percent in local currency, due to lower employee incentive and pension expense, partially offset by higher marketing investments.

Underlying results for the U.K. this quarter exclude one-time employee-related expenses of $1.1 million in COGS and $1.4 million in MG&A.

International and Corporate

The underlying pretax loss for International and Corporate was $58.1 million in the quarter, a 6.4 percent increase, driven by $3.6 million higher Corporate net interest expense resulting from a weaker U.S. dollar. The $7.2 million underlying pretax loss in the international businesses was $1.4 million higher than a year ago, primarily due to investments in our Ukraine, India, China and Russia businesses.

International business volume was 50.3 percent higher in the quarter, driven by the addition of the Si'hai brands in China and the Modelo brands in Japan, along with growth of Carling in Europe and Coors Light in Latin America and China. MG&A expense for International was $18.9 million in the quarter, an increase of $4.6 million, due to increased marketing, sales and other investments in our priority international markets.

Corporate MG&A expense was $22.1 million in the quarter, a decrease of $2.4 million driven by lower employee incentive compensation this year.

Corporate net interest expense was $29.1 million, an increase of $3.6 million compared to a year ago, primarily due to foreign currency movements and higher debt levels this year.

Special and Other Non-Core Items

The following special and other non-core items have been excluded from underlying pretax earnings.

During the quarter, Molson Coors special and other non-core items resulted in a $5.6 million pretax charge, driven by one-time employee-related expenses in the U.K. and a $3.0 million unrealized mark-to-market loss on aluminum hedges in Corporate COGS.

In addition, MillerCoors reported special charges totaling $110.9 million, composed of a $60.0 million write-down of the value of the Sparks brand and a $50.9 million charge resulting from the planned assumption of an under-funded multi-employer pension plan. These charges net to $46.4 million at Molson Coors' 42 percent economic ownership share. The Sparks write-down is eliminated from Molson Coors results via a $25.2 million equity earnings adjustment, leaving MillerCoors net special charges of $21.2 million reflected in Molson Coors results.

2011 Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call

Molson Coors Brewing Company will conduct an earnings conference call with financial analysts and investors at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time today to discuss the Company's 2011 third quarter results. The Company will provide a live webcast of the earnings call.

The Company will also host an online, real-time webcast of an Investor Relations Follow-up Session with financial analysts and institutional investors at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Both webcasts will be accessible via the Company's website, http://www.molsoncoors.com. Online replays of the webcasts will be available until 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on February 16, 2012. The Company will post this release and related financial statements on its website today.

Footnotes:

⁽¹⁾ Unless otherwise indicated, all $ amounts are in U.S. Dollars and all comparative results are for the Company's fiscal third quarter ended September 24, 2011, compared to the fiscal third quarter ended September 25, 2010.

⁽²⁾ The Company calculates non-GAAP underlying income by excluding special and other non-core items from the nearest U.S. GAAP earnings measure, net income from continuing operations attributable to MCBC. To calculate underlying income in the third quarter of 2011, the Company excluded non-core gains, losses and expenses, as well as special items. For further details, please see the section "Special and Other Non-Core Items," along with tables for reconciliations to the nearest U.S. GAAP measures.

⁽³⁾ Note that local currency results for Canada exclude the $2.4 million negative impact of foreign currency hedges in Other (Expense) Income, net, in the third quarter of 2011, and a $1.0 million negative impact in the third quarter of 2010, as it is meaningful to consider these hedges only when viewing the Canada segment in U.S. dollars.

⁽⁴⁾ MillerCoors, a U.S. joint venture of Molson Coors Brewing Company and SABMiller plc, was launched on July 1, 2008. Molson Coors has a 42 percent economic interest in MillerCoors, which is accounted for using the equity method. Molson Coors' interest in MillerCoors results, along with certain adjustments under U.S. GAAP, is reflected in "Equity Income in MillerCoors." This release includes reconciliation from MillerCoors Net Income to Molson Coors Brewing Company Equity Income in MillerCoors and Non-GAAP U.S. Segment Underlying Pretax Income (see Table 4).

Overview of Molson Coors

Molson Coors Brewing Company is one of the world's largest brewers. The Company's operating segments include Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Molson Coors International (MCI). The Company has a diverse portfolio of owned and partner brands, including signature brands Coors Light, Molson Canadian and Carling. Molson Coors is listed on the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), the most recognized global benchmark of sustainability among global corporations. The DJSI assesses how companies manage risks and seize opportunities across a wide range of economic, environmental and social dimensions. For more information on Molson Coors Brewing Company, visit the company's website, http://www.molsoncoors.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes estimates or projections that constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S.federal securities laws.Generally, the words "believe," expect," intend," anticipate," "project," "will," and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historic in nature.Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements are based are reasonable, it can give no assurance that these assumptions will prove to be correct. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's historical experience, and present projections and expectations are disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").These factors include, among others, pension plan costs; availability or increase in the cost of packaging materials; our ability to maintain manufacturer/distribution agreements; impact of competitive pricing and product pressures; our ability to implement our strategic initiatives, including executing and realizing cost savings; changes in legal and regulatory requirements, including the regulation of distribution systems; increase in the cost of commodities used in the business; our ability to maintain brand image, reputation and product quality; our ability to maintain good labor relations; changes in our supply chain system; additional impairment charges; the impact of climate change and the availability and quality of water; the ability of MillerCoors to integrate operations and technologies; lack of full-control over the operations of MillerCoors; the ability of MillerCoors to maintain good relationships with its distributors; and other risks discussed in our filings with the SEC, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year-ended December 25, 2010, which are available from the SEC.All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements and by reference to the underlying assumptions. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made.We do not undertake to update forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Reconciliations to Nearest U.S. GAAP Measures

Pretax and after-tax underlying income should be viewed as a supplement to, not a substitute for, our results of operations presented on the basis of accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Our management uses underlying income as a measure of operating performance to assist in comparing performance from period to period on a consistent basis; as a measure for planning and forecasting overall expectations and for evaluating actual results against such expectations; and in communications with the board of directors, stockholders, analysts and investors concerning our financial performance. We believe that underlying income performance is used by and is useful to investors and other users of our financial statements in evaluating our operating performance because it provides them with an additional tool to evaluate our performance without regard to items such as special items, which can vary substantiallyfrom company to company depending upon accounting methods and book value of assets and capital structure.

SOURCE: Molson Coors Brewing Company

Molson Coors Brewing Company
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