Shares of Molson Coors suffered the biggest daily drop in 12 years after the brewer reported an unexpected first-quarter loss.
The stock drop followed Molson Coors’ disclosure Thursday of a $46.5 million first-quarter loss caused by weak sales and $30 million in severance pay to departing executives.
The share-price drop was the largest suffered by Adolph Coors Co. since 1993. Since the Feburary merger of Coors and Molson Inc., historic stock data are being represented by Coors shares.
Molson Coors also reported the resignation of Dan O’Neill, the former Molson CEO who was tasked with finding cost savings from the merger.
The first-quarter earnings marked the first time the two historic, family-controlled breweries reported combined financial results.
Molson Coors shares fell $14.30 to $63. The 19 percent decline was the fifth-largest loss Thursday among companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The quarterly loss of 74 cents a share was unexpected by Wall Street analysts, who in consensus forecasts had predicted a 36-cent-a-share profit.
“These results are well below our performance goals and the potential we see for the company,” chief executive Leo Kiely said in a conference call. “We obviously had a very tough first quarter in each of our markets.”
Beer sales fell 2 percent in Canada and the United States and 17 percent in the United Kingdom, Molson Coors said.
Part of the North American sales decline stemmed from cancellation of the National Hockey League season, said chief financial officer Tim Wolf.
The brewer has made progress in finding cost savings from the merger, Kiely said. They include future savings of $30 million a year from closing a brewery in Memphis by 2007, and $25 million annually from cutting redundant job positions and divisions.
Eleven senior executives at Molson Coors announced their resignations last month.
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
