The company that owns Corona beer is experiencing its biggest losses in a decade as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Anheuser-Busch InBev owns not only Corona, but other famous brands such as Budweiser, Stella Artois and Becks, too.
However, in the last two months, since the coronavirus began spreading in China, the company has experienced a $170 million (£132 million) loss of earnings in the country, at a time when they were expecting because of lunar new year.
As a result, bosses have been forced to cut the chief executive’s bonus and forecast one of the steepest declines in its quarterly profits.
Anheuser-Busch In Bev has cited the loss in sales to few people visiting China and less people going out in public, in a bid to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Therefore, the impact is taking a toll on nightlife in the country, as many bars and restaurants being forced to close their doors.
The Belgium-based company usually sells more lager in the Chinese market than in the whole of the United States.
CEO Carlos Briton told CNBC:
Our business is all about going to restaurants, to nightlife, going out with friends, it’s really about to go back to normal, we’re preparing for the surge when things return to normal.
As we look to the future, we are determined to lead growth through consumer-centricity, operational excellence and innovation.
Our performance in 2019 was below our expectations, and we are not satisfied with these results.
The World Health Organisation chief is now urging governments to take ‘aggressive’ action against the spread of the coronavirus, which has now reached a ‘decisive point’.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:
Every country must be ready for its first case, its first cluster, the first evidence of community transmission and for dealing with sustained community transmission. And it must be preparing for all of those scenarios at the same time.
It comes after the panic surrounding the coronavirus sent world share markets sinking again on Friday, February 28, wiping out a value of $5 trillion in what has been described as the worst week since the 2008 financial crisis.
So far, 16 people in the UK have tested positive for the virus, as medical officers raise the risk level from low to moderate, given there’s currently no known cure or vaccine.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.