BRUSSELS, Oct 28 (Reuters) - Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, reported lower than expected core profit in the third quarter as beer sales declined once again in its second-largest market, Brazil.
The maker of Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois, fresh from its 79 billion pound purchase of SABMiller, said core profit in the third quarter fell by 2 percent to $4.03 billion, compared with the Reuters poll average forecast of $4.43 billion.
"Most of our markets delivered solid volume, revenue and EBITDA results in 3Q16. However, these results were negatively affected by a very weak quarter in Brazil," the company said in a statement on Friday.
The Belgium-based brewer said it no longer expected revenue in Brazil for the full year to be flat and also cut its guidance for net revenue per hectolitre for the company as a whole.
Its previous forecast was for growth ahead of inflation
"Given the weak results in Brazil, we now expect growth in line with inflation," AB InBev said.
The results come after AB InBev extended its global market leadership by buying nearest rival SABMiller for 79 billion pounds ($96.19 billion) earlier this month. However, the figures are purely for the pre-takeover group. ($1 = 0.8213 pounds) (Reporting By Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Robert-Jan Bartunek)