Constellation Brands 10-Q 2023-11-30

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q

(Mark One)

For the quarterly period ended November 30, 2023

or

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 001-08495

CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

207 High Point Drive, Building 100, Victor, New York 14564

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)

(585) 678-7100

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Not Applicable

(Former name, former address and former fiscal year, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

Yes ☐ No ☒

There were 182,796,408 shares of Class A Common Stock and 23,661 shares of Class 1 Common Stock outstanding as of December 31, 2023.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

This Form 10-Q contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in, or implied by, such forward-looking statements. For further information regarding such forward-looking statements, risks, and uncertainties, please see “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” under MD&A.

Defined Terms

Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms “Company,” “CBI,” “we,” “our,” or “us” refer to Constellation Brands, Inc. and its subsidiaries. We use terms in this Form 10-Q and in our Notes that are specific to us or are abbreviations that may not be commonly known or used.

PART I – FINANCIAL INFORMATION

CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in millions, except share and per share data)

(unaudited)

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these statements.

CONSTELLATION BRANDS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS)

(in millions, except per share data)

(unaudited)

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Introduction

This MD&A provides additional information on our businesses, current developments, financial condition, cash flows, and results of operations. It should be read in conjunction with our Financial Statements and with our consolidated financial statements and notes included in our 2023 Annual Report. This MD&A is organized as follows:

Overview. This section provides a general description of our business, which we believe is important in understanding the results of our operations, financial condition, and potential future trends.

Strategy. This section provides a description of our strategy and a discussion of a recent development and significant divestitures, acquisitions, and investments.

Results of operations. This section provides an analysis of our results of operations presented on a business segment basis for the three months ended November 30, 2023, and November 30, 2022, and nine months ended November 30, 2023, and November 30, 2022. In addition, a brief description of significant transactions and other items that affect the comparability of the results is provided.

Liquidity and capital resources. This section provides an analysis of our cash flows, outstanding debt, and liquidity position. Included in the analysis of outstanding debt is a discussion of the financial capacity available to fund our on-going operations and future commitments, as well as a discussion of other financing arrangements.

Overview

We are an international producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits with operations in the U.S., Mexico, New Zealand, and Italy with powerful, consumer-connected, high-quality brands like Corona Extra, Modelo Especial, the Robert Mondavi Brand Family, Kim Crawford, Meiomi, The Prisoner Wine Company, High West, Casa Noble, and Mi CAMPO. In the U.S., we are one of the top growth contributors at retail among beverage alcohol suppliers. We are the third-largest beer company in the U.S. and continue to strengthen our leadership position as the #1 high-end beer supplier and the #1 share gainer across the U.S. beer market. Within wine and spirits, we have reshaped our brand portfolio to a higher-end focused business aimed to deliver net sales growth and margin expansion. The strength of our brands makes us a supplier of choice to many of our consumers and our customers, which include wholesale distributors, retailers, and on-premise locations. We conduct our business through entities we wholly own as well as through a variety of joint ventures and other entities.

Effective May 31, 2023, we changed our internal management financial reporting to consist of two business divisions: (i) Beer and (ii) Wine and Spirits and we now report our operating results in three

segments: (i) Beer, (ii) Wine and Spirits, and (iii) Corporate Operations and Other following the removal of the Canopy operating segment. For additional information, refer to Note 13.

In the Beer segment, our portfolio consists of high-end imported beer brands and ABAs. We have an exclusive perpetual brand license to produce our Mexican beer portfolio and to import, market, and sell such portfolio in the U.S. In the Wine and Spirits segment, we sell a portfolio that includes higher-end wine brands complemented by certain higher-end spirits brands. Amounts included in the Corporate Operations and Other segment consist of costs of executive management, corporate development, corporate finance, corporate growth and strategy, human resources, internal audit, investor relations, IT, legal, and public relations, as well as our Canopy investment and investments made through our corporate venture capital function. All costs included in the Corporate Operations and Other segment are general costs that are applicable to the consolidated group and are, therefore, not allocated to the other reportable segments. All costs reported within the Corporate Operations and Other segment are not included in our CODM’s evaluation of the operating income (loss) performance of the other reportable segments. The business segments reflect how our operations are managed, how resources are allocated, how operating performance is evaluated by senior management, and the structure of our internal financial reporting.

Strategy

Business strategy

Our overall strategic vision is to consistently deliver industry-leading total stockholder returns over the long-term through a focus on these key pillars:

• continue building strong brands people love with advantaged routes to market;

• build a culture that is consumer-obsessed and leverages robust innovation capabilities to stay on the forefront of consumer trends;

• deploy capital in line with disciplined and balanced priorities; and

• deliver on impactful ESG initiatives that we believe are not only good business, but also good for the world.

We will continue to strive for success by ensuring consumer-led decision making drives all aspects of our business; building a diverse talent pipeline with best-in-class people development; investing in infrastructure that supports and enables our business, including data systems and architecture; and exemplifying intentional and proactive fiscal management. We place focus on positioning our portfolio on higher-margin, higher-growth categories of the beverage alcohol industry to align with consumer-led premiumization trends, which we believe will continue to drive faster growth rates across beer, wine, and spirits. To continue capitalizing on consumer-led premiumization trends, become more competitive, and grow our business, we have employed a strategy dedicated to organic growth and supplemented by targeted investments and acquisitions. We also believe a key component to driving faster growth rates is to invest and strengthen our leadership position within the DTC and 3-tier eCommerce channels. We have launched a multi-year Digital Business Acceleration initiative, which we believe will enable us to drive results by enhancing our technology capabilities in key areas. In Fiscal 2024, we continue to focus our Digital Business Acceleration initiative efforts on procurement, end-to-end supply chain planning, and marketing optimization, as well as introducing a new focus area, logistics. Additionally, we believe our continued focus on maintaining a strong balance sheet provides a solid financial foundation to support our broader strategic initiatives.

Our business strategy for the Beer segment focuses on strengthening our leadership position in the high-end segment of the U.S. beer market and continuing to grow our high-end imported beer brands through maintenance of leading margins, enhancements to our results of operations and operating cash flow, and exploring new avenues for growth. This includes continued focus on growing our beer portfolio in the U.S. through expanding distribution for key brands, including within the 3-tier eCommerce channel, as well as continued expansion, optimization, and/or construction activities at our breweries in Mexico. Additionally, in an effort to compete more fully in growing sectors of the high-end segment of the U.S. beer market, we have leveraged our

innovation capabilities to create new line extensions behind celebrated, trusted brands and package formats that

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As a result of our global operating, investment, acquisition, divestiture, and financing activities, we are exposed to market risk associated with changes in foreign currency exchange rates, commodity prices, and interest rates. To manage the volatility relating to these risks, we periodically purchase and/or sell derivative instruments including foreign currency forward and option contracts, commodity swap contracts, interest rate swap contracts, and Pre-issuance hedge contracts. We use derivative instruments to reduce earnings and cash flow volatility resulting from shifts in market rates, as well as to hedge economic exposures. We do not enter into derivative instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Foreign currency and commodity price risk

Foreign currency derivative instruments are or may be used to hedge existing foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities, forecasted foreign currency denominated sales/purchases to/from third parties as well as intercompany sales/purchases, intercompany principal and interest payments, and in connection with investments, acquisitions, or divestitures outside the U.S. As of November 30, 2023, we had exposures to foreign currency risk primarily related to the Mexican peso, Canadian dollar, New Zealand dollar, and euro. Approximately 100% of our balance sheet exposures and 87% of our forecasted transactional exposures for the remaining three months of Fiscal 2024 were hedged as of November 30, 2023.

Commodity derivative instruments are or may be used to hedge forecasted commodity purchases from third parties as either economic hedges or accounting hedges. As of November 30, 2023, exposures to commodity price risk which we are currently hedging include aluminum, corn, diesel fuel, and natural gas prices. Approximately 84% of our forecasted transactional exposures for the remaining three months of Fiscal 2024 were hedged as of November 30, 2023.

We have performed a sensitivity analysis to estimate our exposure to market risk of foreign exchange rates and commodity prices reflecting the impact of a hypothetical 10% adverse change in the applicable market. The volatility of the applicable rates and prices is dependent on many factors which cannot be forecasted with reliable accuracy. Gains or losses from the revaluation or settlement of the related underlying positions would substantially offset such gains or losses on the derivative instruments. The aggregate notional value, estimated fair value, and sensitivity analysis for our open foreign currency and commodity derivative instruments are summarized as follows:

Interest rate risk

The estimated fair value of our fixed interest rate debt is subject to interest rate risk, credit risk, and foreign currency risk. In addition, we also have variable interest rate debt outstanding (primarily SOFR-based), certain of which includes a fixed margin subject to the same risks identified for our fixed interest rate debt.

As of November 30, 2023, we had $125.0 million outstanding cash flow designated, Pre-issuance hedge contracts which fixed our three-year interest rates to minimize interest rate volatility on our future debt issuances. There were no other cash flow designated or undesignated interest rate swap contracts or Pre-issuance hedge contracts outstanding as of November 30, 2023, or November 30, 2022. Subsequently, in December 2023, we entered into additional cash flow designated, Pre-issuance hedge contracts, for $150.0 million of future debt issuances.

We have performed a sensitivity analysis to estimate our exposure to market risk of interest rates reflecting the impact of a hypothetical 1% increase in the prevailing interest rates. The volatility of the applicable rates is dependent on many factors which cannot be forecasted with reliable accuracy.

The aggregate notional value, estimated fair value, and sensitivity analysis for our outstanding fixed-rate debt, including current maturities, are summarized as follows:

A 1% hypothetical change in the prevailing interest rates would have increased interest expense on our variable interest rate debt by $6.7 million and $6.6 million for the nine months ended November 30, 2023, and November 30, 2022, respectively.

For additional discussion on our market risk, refer to Notes 3 and 4.

Disclosure controls and procedures

Our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer have concluded, based on their evaluation as of the end of the period covered by this report, that the Company’s “disclosure controls and procedures” (as defined in the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) are effective to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act (i) is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and (ii) is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

Internal control over financial reporting

In connection with the foregoing evaluation by our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, no changes were identified in the Company’s “internal control over financial reporting” (as defined in the Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f)) that occurred during our fiscal quarter ended November 30, 2023, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

PART II – OTHER INFORMATION

I****tem 1. Legal Proceedings.

For additional information regarding Legal Proceedings, see Item 1A. “Risk Factors.”

In addition to information discussed elsewhere in this Form 10-Q, you should carefully consider the risk factors disclosed in the 2023 Annual Report. The risk factors associated with our business have not materially changed compared to the risk factors disclosed in the 2023 Annual Report except for the updated risk factor below. The risk factor described below and the additional risks described in the 2023 Annual Report are not the only risks we face. Additional factors not presently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial could materially affect our business, liquidity, financial condition, and/or results of operations in future periods. The following risk factor is organized under a relevant heading; however, it may be relevant to other headings as well.

Strategic Risks

Dependence upon trademarks and proprietary rights, failure to protect our intellectual property rights

Our future success depends significantly on our ability to protect our current and future brands and products and to defend our intellectual property rights. We have been granted numerous trademark registrations and use certain trademarks under license covering our brands and products, and we have filed, and expect to continue to file or have filed on our behalf, trademark applications seeking to protect newly developed brands and products. We cannot be sure that trademark registrations will be issued with respect to any of such trademark applications. We could also, by omission, fail to timely renew or protect a trademark and our competitors could challenge, invalidate, or circumvent any existing or future trademarks issued to, or licensed by, us.

Our subsidiaries CB Brand Strategies, LLC, Crown Imports LLC, and Compañía Cervecera de Coahuila, S. de R.L. de C.V. were named as defendants in a lawsuit originally filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 15, 2021, and most recently amended on March 16, 2022, by Cervecería Modelo de México, S. de R.L. de C.V. and Trademarks Grupo Modelo, S. de R.L. de C.V. captioned Cervecería Modelo de México, S. de R.L. de C.V., et al. v. CB Brand Strategies, LLC, et al., Case No. 21 Civ. 01317-LAK (S.D.N.Y.). The plaintiffs alleged, among other things, that our sub-license of the trademarks for our Mexican beer brands should not permit us to use the Corona brand name on our Corona Hard Seltzer or the Modelo brand name on our Modelo Ranch Water. On August 5, 2022, both the plaintiffs and the defendants filed motions for summary judgment. On November 3, 2022, the court denied our motion for summary judgment. On December 13, 2022, the court denied plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. At a trial in March 2023, the jury returned a unanimous verdict in our favor on all counts in the plaintiffs’ complaint, and the court entered judgment dismissing the complaint on March 15, 2023. On April 12, 2023, the plaintiffs filed a motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial with the court, which motion was denied on April 14, 2023.

On May 12, 2023, the plaintiffs filed a notice of appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from the final judgment entered in the above-captioned case, rulings and orders incorporated in, antecedent to, or ancillary to that final judgment, and the court’s order denying the plaintiffs’ motion for judgment as a matter of law or, in the alternative, for a new trial in that action. The appeal is captioned Cervecería Modelo de México, S. de R.L. de C.V., et al. v. CB Brand Strategies, LLC, et al., Case No. 23-810 (2d Cir.). The plaintiffs’ principal brief was filed on August 22, 2023, our response brief was filed on November 21, 2023, and plaintiffs’ reply brief was filed on December 12, 2023. The appeal remains pending.

While we continue to believe this lawsuit is without merit, litigation is inherently unpredictable and subject to substantial uncertainties and unfavorable developments and resolutions could occur. In addition, our cost of defending this litigation has been and could continue to be substantial. If we are not successful, we may not be able to market Corona Hard Seltzer in its current formulation under the Corona brand name or Modelo Ranch Water product in its current formulation under the Modelo brand name and we may be required to pay

damage awards, each of which may have an adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition and/or results of operations.

We have been and may continue to be subject to other litigation related to our trademarks and intellectual property rights. A substantial adverse judgment or other unfavorable resolution of these matters or our failure to otherwise protect our intellectual property rights as well as the costs associated with such activities could have a material adverse effect on our business, liquidity, financial condition, and/or results of operations.

Item 2. Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds.

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

(1)In January 2021, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $2.0 billion of our publicly traded common stock under the 2021 Authorization. The Board of Directors did not specify a date upon which the 2021 Authorization would expire. Share repurchases for the periods included herein were effected through open market transactions and exclude the impact of Federal excise tax owed pursuant to the IRA.

(2)In November 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors authorized an additional repurchase of up to $2.0 billion of our publicly traded common stock under the 2023 Authorization. The Board of Directors did not specify a date upon which the 2023 Authorization would expire. No shares have been repurchased under the 2023 Authorization.

During the three months ended November 30, 2023, none of our directors or officers (as defined in Exchange Act Rule 16a-1(f)) adopted or terminated a “Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement” or “non-Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangement,” as each term is defined in Item 408 of Regulation S-K.

The Company agrees, upon request of the SEC, to furnish copies of each instrument that defines the rights of holders of long-term debt of the Company or its subsidiaries that is not filed herewith pursuant to Item 601(b)(4)(iii)(A) because the total amount of long-term debt authorized under such instrument does not exceed 10% of the total assets of the Company and its subsidiaries on a consolidated basis.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.