Constellation Brands has released its Q1 2025 earnings report, revealing a decline in beer sales, which the company’s CEO attributes to the recent immigration crackdown in the U.S.
The brand reported that it “continued to face softer consumer demand” in Q1, “driven by what we believe to be non-structural socioeconomic factors.”
Contellation beer sales fell 2% during the quarter, while the company stated that, “Over 80% of the surveyed Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers expressed concerns about the socioeconomic environment in the U.S. and more than 70% are specifically concerned about their personal finances.”
“These concerns are impacting social occasions and shopping behaviors with respondents placing gatherings with friends and family in public spaces, gatherings with friends and family at homes, and shopping in convenience stores or gas stations in the top three activities they are doing less of in the last 3 months.”
Constellation Brands, owners of Modelo, Corona, and Pacifico, state that about half of their beer sales are generated by the Latino population of the U.S.
During an earnings call, Constellation CEO Bill Newlands acknowledged that raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were complicating the ability to predict consumer behavior. “When you see a fair amount of change, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic consumers are concerned about inflation and about cost structure.”
In a joint statement the company’s CFO, Garth Hankinson and CEO, Bill Newlands said; “For fiscal 2026, we expect organic Enterprise net sales to be down approximately 2% to up approximately 1%.”
Moving forward, “While our fiscal 2026 outlook remains unchanged, we continue to closely monitor whether recent revisions to key macroeconomic forecasts will result in additional consumer demand softness – and as always, we will consider all potential actions available to address any incremental headwinds while also evaluating how these factors may ultimately impact our current expectations.”
By CEO NA Editorial Staff