STEFAAN CASTELEYN
PARTNER
1VERMOGENSBEHEER
Score prediction: BELGIUM 2 – PORTUGAL 1
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
Belgium has only one company in the international super league
By coincidence, this Belgian Blue Chip is a beer company: AB Inbev. The company started as a local brewer in Belgium and later merged with the Brazilian company Ambev.
In 2008 a very bold step was taken with the take-over of the American icon Anheuser-Busch (with the famous brand Budweiser). To soften the fact that this large US-company was taken over by “little Belgians” the name was changed into Anheuser-Busch Inbev. The latest acquisition was SAB Millar and many investors feel that this time AB Inbev overpaid. But nevertheless the largest beer company in the world was created with a market share of 30%.
Obviously AB Inbev was one of the big victims of the covid-19 pandemic. People like to drink beer together in the park, at concerts and festivals and certainly during large sports events. The European Championships are one of the first events where fans (albeit still limited) can drink beer together to celebrate a victory or to drown a loss.
Due to the expensive take-over of SAB Millar and the huge loss of business during the pandemic, the current share price of AB Inbev (€63) is only slightly above half the all time high in 2015 (€118).
Although the Belgian market itself is only responsible for 1% of total sales of AB Inbev, beer consumption is bound to rise substantially if Belgium makes it to the final or becomes European Champion!
AB Inbev even created a beer in Red colours!
But even without a Belgian victory it can be expected that post-covid-19 AB Inbev is ready for a recovery.
RUI CASTRO PACHECO
DEPUTY CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
BANCO BEST
Score prediction: BELGIUM 2 – PORTUGAL 3
INVESTMENT INSIGHT:
Do you know the oldest company that is still in business in Portugal?
The history of this company started in 1520, when King D. Manuel I created the first public mail service in Portugal.
The shape and business of the company evolved with the time. At some point, we had Correios, Telégrafos e Faróis (Mail, Telegraphs and Lighthouses) until it came CTT – Correios, Telégrafos e Telefones (Mail, Telegraphs and Telephones) in 1911.
From Kings to the Republic, the company served Portugal for almost five centuries as a public state-owned company until it was privatised in 2013 and is now a listed company.
Nowadays, even though the three letters are maintained, the company left the telegraph and telephone and added a retail bank to the business, with now more than half a million client accounts.
In 2020, they handled more that 516 million packages in their business in Portugal and Spain.
Sources: Wikipedia and CTT.
