Molson Coors admits Coors Light struggles in Canada

Reporting its Q2 2013 results yesterday the firm revealed net sales up 17.9% in the quarter to $1.18bn - due to the acquisition of Central Europe operations, Eastern European brewer StarBev, in June 2012 - while underlying income after tax rose 11.4% to $278.6m.

The US is Molson Coors' biggest market by far, where it is the second-largest beer brand (behind AB InBev's Bud Light) in the world's second-largest beer market.

Strong growth in UK, Mexico​

Canada only has one tenth of the population of the US, so volumes are much smaller, but Swinburn said: "Coors Light achieved mixed results by gaining share of premium lights in the US per Nielsen and is growing strongly in the UK and Mexico, but under-performing the market in Canada."​

The brewer said beer volumes were hit by poor weather in Canada, while the company is cycling the launch of Coors Light Iced T a year ago, and new launches - Molson Canadian Wheat, Rickard's Shandy and Molson Canadian Cider - did not wholly offset these issues.

Weather and pricing pressures​

CEO of Molson Coors Canada, Stewart Glendinning, told analysts: "June was an appalling month in beer volumes...wines and spirits were more or less flat, but beer itself was down across the country, and that was primarily driven by a weakness in weather.​

"If you just looked at our volumes... we're off by about 100,000 hectoliters for the year, about half of that was Coors Light Iced T. So hopefully that gives you a little perspective,"​ he added.

Glendinning said Molson Coors gained value share overall in Canada, but saw pricing pressures in the "very competitive"​ markets of Atlantic and Quebec.

He added that sales were down in premium segment and up in the value segment, while there was a shift towards consumers buying larger-sized packs.