A Dark Vector Cognition product

Item 1. BUSINESS

50K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown

Item 1. BUSINESS

Business Overview

Unless otherwise noted in this report, any description of "we," "us" or "our" includes Molson Coors Beverage Company ("MCBC" or the "Company"), principally a holding company, and its operating and non-operating subsidiaries included within its Americas and EMEA&APAC reporting segments. Unless otherwise indicated, information in this report is presented in USD and comparisons are to comparable prior periods. Our primary operating currencies, other than the USD, include the CAD, the GBP and our Central European operating currencies such as the EUR, CZK, RON, HRK and RSD.

For more than two centuries, we have been brewing beverages that unite people to celebrate all life’s moments. From Coors Light, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian, Carling and Staropramen to Coors Banquet, Blue Moon Belgian White, Vizzy Hard Seltzer, Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, Miller High Life and more, we produce many beloved and iconic beer brands. While our Company’s history is rooted in beer, we offer a modern portfolio that expands beyond the beer aisle as well. As a business, our ambition is to be the first choice for our people, our consumers and our customers, and our success depends on our ability to make our products available to meet a wide range of consumer segments and occasions.

Molson and Coors were founded in 1786 and 1873, respectively. Our commitment to producing the highest quality beers is a key part of our heritage and remains so to this day. Our brands are designed to appeal to a wide range of consumer tastes, styles and price preferences. Coors was incorporated in June 1913 under the laws of the state of Colorado. In October 2003, Coors merged with and into Adolph Coors Company, a Delaware corporation. In February 2005, Adolph Coors Company merged with Molson Inc. ("the Merger"). Upon completion of the Merger, Adolph Coors Company changed its name to Molson Coors Brewing Company. On October 11, 2016, we entered into a purchase agreement with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV to acquire 100% of the outstanding equity and voting interests of MillerCoors, previously a joint venture between MCBC and the former SABMiller plc. In January 2020, we changed our name from Molson Coors Brewing Company to Molson Coors Beverage Company in connection with our expansion beyond the beer aisle.

Our revitalization plan, announced on October 28, 2019, focuses on the execution of the following principal strategies: building on the strength of our iconic core brands, growing our above premium portfolio, expanding beyond the beer aisle and investing in our capabilities and supporting our people and communities. Through the execution of the revitalization plan, we broadened our range of products and offerings within our portfolio to also include, among others, hard seltzers, ready to drink beverages and a variety of non-alcoholic beverage offerings. In 2021, in order to support the overall premiumization of our portfolio, we strategically de-prioritized and rationalized certain non-core SKUs predominately in the economy segment. While we rationalized certain non-core economy SKUs, we retained key economy brands allowing us to maintain a portfolio for all socio-economic demographics. The revitalization plan is intended to drive sustainable net sales and earnings growth and could result in potential volume declines due to the rationalization of certain SKUs and as the portfolio mix shifts towards a higher composition of above premium products.

Our Segments

In 2022, we operated the following segments: Americas and EMEA&APAC. Our Americas segment operates in the U.S., Canada and various countries in the Caribbean, Latin and South America and our EMEA&APAC segment operates in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, the U.K., various other European countries and certain countries within the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. A separate operating team manages each segment and each segment manufactures, markets, distributes and sells beer as well as offers a modern and growing portfolio that expands beyond the beer aisle. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated net sales in 2022, 2021 or 2020.

Americas Segment

Our Americas segment consists of the production, marketing and sales of our brands and other owned and licensed brands in the U.S., Canada and various countries in the Caribbean, Latin and South America. We currently operate nine primary breweries, nine craft breweries and two container operations. We are North America's oldest beer company and second largest brewer by volume in North America, representing approximately 20% of the total 2022 North America beer market, which is the largest region of our Americas segment. The Americas segment also includes a partnership arrangement related to the distribution of beer in Ontario, Canada, Brewers' Retail Inc. ("BRI"), and in the western provinces of Canada, Brewers' Distributor Ltd. ("BDL"). In addition, we have an agreement with Heineken that grants us the right to produce, import, market,

distribute and sell certain Heineken products in Canada. The Americas segment also includes Truss, our Canadian joint venture with HEXO Corp. ("HEXO") which produces and markets non-alcoholic, cannabis-infused beverages in Canada.

We have agreements to brew, package and ship products for Pabst Brewing Company, LLC ("Pabst") and The Yuengling Company ("TYC"), and an agreement with Labatt USA Operating Co, LLC to brew and package certain Labatt brands for export.

EMEA&APAC Segment

The EMEA&APAC segment consists of our production, marketing and sales of our primary brands as well as other owned and licensed brands in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Serbia, the U.K., various other European countries and certain countries within the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. We currently operate eleven primary breweries, six craft breweries and one cidery. Our EMEA&APAC segment is Europe's second largest brewer by volume, on a combined basis, within the countries in which we operate, with an approximate aggregate 18% market share (excluding factored products) in 2022. The majority of our EMEA&APAC segment sales are in the U.K., Croatia, Czech Republic and Romania with the U.K. representing over 55% of the segment's net sales in 2022.

Our portfolio includes beers that have the largest share in their respective countries, such as Carling in the U.K., Ozujsko in Croatia and Niksicko in Montenegro. We have beers that rank in the top two in market share in their respective segments throughout the region, such as Bergenbier in Romania, Jelen in Serbia and Borsodi in Hungary*.* Additionally, we sell Staropramen and Miller Genuine Draft in various countries. Our EMEA&APAC segment includes the sale of factored brand sales (beverage brands owned by other companies but sold and delivered to retail by us) and our consolidated joint venture arrangement for the production and distribution of Cobra brands in the U.K.

Unallocated

We have certain activity that is not allocated to our segments, and primarily includes financing-related costs such as interest expense and income, foreign exchange gains and losses on intercompany balances related to financing and other treasury-related activities, and the unrealized changes in fair value on our commodity swaps not designated in hedging relationships recorded within cost of goods sold, which are later reclassified when realized to the segment in which the underlying exposure resides. Additionally, only the service cost component of net periodic pension and OPEB cost is reported within each operating segment, and all other components remain unallocated.

Industry Overview

The brewing industry has significantly evolved over the years to become an increasingly global beer market. The industry was previously founded on local presence with modest international expansion achieved through export, license and partnership arrangements. Over time the market has become increasingly complex as the consolidation of brewers has occurred globally, resulting in a small number of large global brewers representing the majority of the worldwide beer market. In addition to the consolidation and the acquisitive nature of the industry, exports, licensing and partnership arrangements continued to be used and these transactions typically occurred between the same global competitors that make up the majority of the market. There was also a period of time about five to ten years ago when smaller local brewers within certain established markets experienced accelerated growth as consumers increasingly placed value on locally-produced, regionally-sourced products. In addition, changing consumer trends are pushing the industry toward above premium products, including flavored malt beverages, imports and beyond beer altogether. In recent years, the hard seltzer market emerged and experienced significant growth, particularly in the U.S. Although the significant growth has slowed as the market has matured, we believe the hard seltzer market will continue to be of importance to consumers especially in the Americas. As the beer industry continues its evolution of consolidation and diversification of its products to meet consumer demand with broadening preferences, we believe large global brewers are uniquely positioned to leverage the scale, depth of product portfolio and industry knowledge to continue to lead the market forward. We believe we are well positioned to compete in this continually evolving market, particularly in beer, hard seltzer and beyond.

Our Products

We have a diverse portfolio of beloved and iconic owned and partner brands including Blue Moon, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Miller High Life, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Lite and Staropramen. We continue to invest in and focus on growing these brands. In addition to these iconic brands, we offer products in the above premium segment, including flavored malt beverages (which includes hard seltzers), craft and ready to drink beverages, premium (which includes premium lights) and economy segments. Further, our modern and growing portfolio expands beyond the beer aisle as well. We craft and distribute high-quality, innovative beverages with the purpose of uniting people to celebrate all life’s moments. We categorize our brands globally for consistency of reporting based on the following price segments: Above Premium, Premium and Economy. For example, our Above Premium classification includes brands that are sold at a price point higher than the market

average. Price segment classifications may vary between the Americas and EMEA&APAC segments and the naming conventions and classifications may be different in the various countries that we operate based on local terminology, for example in our EMEA&APAC segment brands categorized in the Premium classification such as Carling would be described as Core Brands in the local market.

The following presents the primary brands sold:

Owned Brands

Above Premium Brands - Aspall Cider, Blue Moon, Coors Original, Hop Valley brands*, Leinenkugel's, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Ultra*, Sharp's, Staropramen, Vizzy Hard Seltzer

Premium - Bergenbier, Borsodi, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Jelen, Kamenitza, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian Lager, Molson Dry, Molson Export, Niksicko, Ozujsko

Economy - Branik, Icehouse, Keystone, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best, Steel Reserve

Partner Brands

Our partner brands are licensed through various agreements with third parties, such as license, distribution, partnership and joint venture agreements.

Arnold Palmer Spiked, Beck's, Heineken, Lowenbrau, Madri, Peroni Nastro Azurro, Pilsner Urquell, Redd's brands*, Simply Spiked, Sol, Stella Artois, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer, Zoa*

Competition

The beer industry is highly competitive and our portfolio of beers competes with numerous brands in all segments which are produced by international, national, regional and local brewers. Competitive factors impacting our business include, but are not limited to, brand recognition and loyalty, pricing, quality, advertising, marketing and promotional activity, packaging, product variety, and the ability to anticipate and respond to consumer tastes and preferences. We believe our brand portfolio gives us strong representation in all major beer categories. In the U.S. and Canada, we compete most directly with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ("ABI") brands, but we also compete with imports and other providers of craft beer and flavored malt beverages. In the European countries where we currently operate, our primary competitors are ABI, Asahi, Carlsberg and Heineken.

Our products also compete with other alcohol beverages, including wine and spirits, and thus their competitive position is affected by consumer preferences between and among these other categories. Sales of wine and spirits have grown faster than sales of beer in recent years, driven by, among other things, increased spirits advertising, a narrowing price gap with wine and spirits and increased wine and spirits sales execution. This has resulted in a reduction in the beer segment's lead in the overall alcohol beverage market.

In addition, consumer preferences have continued to shift within the industry to above premium products, with volume growth in recent years seen in flavored malt beverages (including hard seltzers), imports and super premium portfolios. We believe growing or even maintaining our market share will require building on the strength of our core brands, premiumizing our portfolio and continuing to increase our presence in the fast-growing areas of the industry and beyond the beer aisle.

Sales and Distribution

Our go to market strategy differs between geographic regions due to the differences in regulations among those areas.

In the U.S., beer is generally distributed through a three-tier system consisting of manufacturers, distributors and retailers. A national network of approximately 330 independent distributors and one Company-owned distributor, Coors Distributing Company, purchases our products and distributes them to on- and off-premise retail accounts. Coors Distributing Company distributed approximately 3% of our total owned and non-owned Americas segment volume in 2022. Transportation of our products to distributors in the U.S. is primarily contracted through third-party logistics providers and shipped by truckload. We have long-term contracts in place with third-party logistics providers to mitigate price fluctuations in freight costs. In instances where transportation needs cannot be met by contracted freight carriers, we utilize the spot freight market. In recent years, in response to trends seen within the transportation industry, we began shipping more products via railway, through insulated boxcars or intermodal shipping containers, as an action taken to mitigate the level of inflation seen in freight costs within the trucking industry.

In Canada, because provincial governments regulate the beer industry and provincial liquor boards control the distribution and retail sale of alcohol products, distribution strategies and transportation of products vary by province. In

Ontario, beer is primarily purchased at retail outlets operated by BRI, at government-regulated retail outlets operated by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario ("LCBO"), at approved agents of the LCBO, at certain licensed grocery stores, or at any bar, restaurant, or tavern licensed by the LCBO to sell alcohol for on-premise consumption. In Québec, the distribution and sale of beer is governed by the Société des Alcools du Québec ("SAQ"). Beer is distributed to retail outlets directly by each brewer or through approved independent agents. Retail sales for off-premise consumption are made through grocery and convenience stores, as well as government operated outlets. BDL manages the distribution of our products throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.

In the Caribbean, Latin and South America, we use a combination of export models and license agreements to sell Blue Moon, Coors Light, Miller Genuine Draft, Miller High Life, Miller Lite and other brands. In our export model markets, we import beer from the U.S. and sell it through agreements with independent distributors. In license markets, we have established exclusive licensing agreements with brewers and distributors for the manufacturing and distribution of our products. In certain of our markets, we rely on a combination of these agreements.

In the European countries in which we operate, beer is generally distributed through either a two-tier system consisting of manufacturers and retailers, or a three-tier system consisting of manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Distribution activities for both the on-premise and off-premise channels are conducted primarily by third-party logistics providers. Most of our beer in the U.K. is sold directly to retailers. We have an agreement with Tradeteam Ltd. ("Tradeteam," a subsidiary of DHL) to provide the distribution of our products throughout the U.K. until April 2029. We utilize several hundred third-party logistics providers across our Central European operations. We also conduct a small amount of secondary distribution in several Central European countries utilizing our own fleet of vehicles. It is also common in the U.K. for brewers to distribute beer, wine, spirits and other products owned and produced by other companies, which we refer to as factored brands, to the on-premise channel (bars and restaurants). Approximately 17% of our EMEA&APAC segment net sales in 2022 represented factored brands.

In addition, we have an agreement with Heineken whereby they sell, market and distribute Coors in the Republic of Ireland, as well as agreements with ABI to brew and distribute Beck's, Stella Artois and Lowenbrau, and to distribute Hoegaarden, Leffe, and Corona in Central Europe.

Our operations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia Pacific include markets such as Australia, South Africa and South Korea, with the sale and distribution completed under local license agreements, through the export of our brands from our sites or contract manufacturing with sale through local distributors.

Channels

References to on- and off-premise sales volumes are sales to retailers, which we believe is a useful data point relative to consumer trends. The on-premise channel includes sales to bars, pubs and restaurants while the off-premise channel includes sales in convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores and other retail outlets including The Beer Store in Ontario, which is Canada's largest beer retailer. Over the last few years, throughout the EMEA&APAC segment, the off-premise channel has become increasingly concentrated among a small number of super-store chains. Industry channel trends vary by segment.

The following table reflects the on-premise MCBC channel trends over the last four years in the largest regions of our Americas segment, the U.S. and Canada, and the largest region of our EMEA&APAC segment, the U.K., based on the percentage of on-premise volume to total STR volume.

On-Premise Volume - MCBC Channel Trend
2022202120202019
U.S. and Canada15%13%9%16%
U.K.62%49%38%61%

Prior to the year ended December 31, 2020, the split between on-premise and off-premise remained relatively stable in the Americas segment while the EMEA&APAC segment had seen volumes across countries in which we operate shifting over time from the higher margin on-premise channel to the lower margin off-premise channel. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we experienced a significant adverse impact resulting from the closure of the on-premise channel and increased restrictions as a result of the on-set of the coronavirus pandemic which effectively shut down the on-premise channel for various portions of time across the geographies in which we operate. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2022, we began to see a progressive return to the on-premise channel at varying degrees across geographies.

As we continue to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, any governmental or societal impositions of restrictions on public gatherings, including any vaccine mandates or testing requirements, especially if prolonged in nature will continue to impact on-premise traffic and, in turn, our business. See Part II. Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis, "Items

Affecting Reported Results" & "Segment Results of Operations—Americas", for further details.

Manufacturing, Production and Packaging

Brewing Raw Materials

We use high quality ingredients to brew our products, including hops, water and barley, among others.

Hops used to brew our products are purchased under various contracts from suppliers in the U.S. and Europe with EMEA&APAC primarily sourced from Germany, U.K., U.S., Czech Republic and Slovenia. These contracts vary in length based on market conditions.

In the Americas segment, we malt a majority of our production requirements in the U.S. and Canada, using barley purchased primarily under annual contracts from independent farmers located predominately in the western U.S. and Canadian Prairies. In addition, we source barley malt from three other commercial providers, from which we have a committed supply through 2025. Other brewing adjuncts are sourced from three main suppliers, all in the U.S. and Canada, with committed supply through 2023. Other malt and cereal grains are purchased primarily from suppliers in the U.S. and Canada.

In EMEA&APAC, during the year ended December 31, 2022, our malt requirements were sourced from third-party suppliers, with the majority of our brewing materials provided by suppliers based in Europe. We have multiple agreements with various suppliers that cover almost all of our total required malt, with terms ending in 2022 through 2029. Adjuncts are purchased under various contracts with local producers, which are typically crop year contracts commencing in October of each year.

In the U.S. and Canada, we both own and lease water rights, as well as purchase water through local municipalities and communities, to provide for and sustain brewing operations. In EMEA&APAC, water used in the brewing process is sourced through water rights for water wells, river water use or supply contracts with water suppliers.

We do not currently anticipate future difficulties in accessing water or agricultural products used in our brewing process in the near term.

Packaging Materials

Our primary packaging materials include aluminum, glass bottles, kegs and casks and recyclable plastic containers. In recent years, we have seen a shift to aluminum cans from glass bottles, and this trend accelerated during the year ended December 31, 2020 as a result of the on-premise channel closing at various degrees across our geographies due to the coronavirus pandemic. While we saw a shift back from aluminum cans to kegs during 2021 and 2022 as the on-premise progressively reopened, aluminum cans continue to represent a greater percentage of packaging materials as compared to the years prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

In our Americas segment, a portion of the aluminum cans and ends are purchased from Rocky Mountain Metal Container ("RMMC"), our joint venture with Ball Corporation ("Ball"), whose production facilities, which are leased from us, are located near our brewery in Golden, Colorado. In addition to the supply agreement with RMMC, we have supply agreements with Ball and other vendors to purchase aluminum containers in addition to what is supplied from RMMC. In EMEA&APAC, we have long-term agreements with various suppliers that cover all of our required supply of cans.

In the Americas segment, a portion of the glass bottles are purchased from Rocky Mountain Bottle Company ("RMBC"), our joint venture with Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc. ("Owens"), whose production facilities, which are leased from us, are located in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. In addition to the supply agreement with RMBC, we have supply agreements with Owens and other vendors for requirements in excess of RMBC's production.

The standard bottle for beer brewed in Canada is the 341 ml returnable bottle and represents the vast majority of our bottle sales. The returnable bottle requires significant investment behind our returnable bottle inventory and bottling equipment.

While we experienced some challenges in obtaining supplies required for certain packaging materials in 2021 and 2022 as a result of the global supply chain disruption, partially due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, these more severe supply constraints were short term in nature and overall, did not materially impact our ability to produce product and meet production forecasts. We do not currently foresee future difficulties in accessing packaging materials in the near term. In addition, we do not foresee any issues in maintaining and renegotiating the various long-term agreements we have in place for supply of key materials.

Many of our ingredients, raw materials and commodities for both brewing and packaging are purchased in the open market. The prices we pay for such items are subject to fluctuation, and we manage this risk through the use of fixed-price contracts and purchase orders, pricing agreements and derivative instruments, including commodity swaps and options. In

addition, risk to our supply of certain raw materials is mitigated through purchases from multiple geographies and suppliers. When prices increase for materials, we may or may not be able to pass on such increases to our customers. In addition, we continue to make investments to improve the sustainability and resources of our agricultural supply chain, including the development of our initiative to advance sustainable farming practices by our suppliers.

Seasonality of the Business

Total industry volume is sensitive to factors such as weather, holidays, changes in demographics, consumer preferences and drinking occasions including major televised sporting events. Weather conditions consisting of high temperatures and extended periods of warm and dry weather favor increased consumption of our products, while unseasonably cool or wet weather, especially during the summer months, adversely affects our sales volumes and net sales. Consumption of beer in the Americas segment is seasonal, with nearly 37% of sales volume occurring during the months from May through August. In EMEA&APAC, the peak selling seasons typically occur during the summer months and during the Christmas and New Year holiday season.

Coronavirus Global Pandemic

Starting at the end of the first quarter of 2020, the coronavirus pandemic had a material adverse effect on our operations, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. In 2021, we saw improvements in the marketplace related to the coronavirus global pandemic as on-premise locations began to re-open, with varying degrees of restrictions, across the world beginning in the second quarter of 2021. A new variant of coronavirus, Omicron, created additional uncertainty and negatively impacted our on-premise business at the end of 2021 and into the first quarter of 2022 when we started to see progressive improvements in the on-premise channel. Thus, while an improvement from 2021, the coronavirus global pandemic continued to have a negative impact to our financial results for the year ended December 31, 2022.

The extent to which our operations will continue to be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic will depend largely on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be accurately predicted, including the level of governmental or societal orders or restrictions on public gatherings and on-premise venues, including any vaccine mandates or testing requirements, the severity and duration of the coronavirus pandemic by market, including outbreaks of variants, changes in consumer behavior, inflationary pressures resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the rate of vaccination and the efficacy of vaccines against the coronavirus and related variants. We continue to actively monitor the ongoing evolution of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting impacts to our business.

See further discussion of the status of the coronavirus pandemic and its impacts on our Company, including the on- and off-premise impacts to our segments in Part II. Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Regulation

Our business is subject to various laws and regulations in the jurisdictions around the world in which we operate. These regulations govern many parts of our operations, including brewing, marketing and advertising, transportation, distributor relationships, sales and environmental issues.

The U.S. beer business is regulated by federal, state and local governments. To operate our facilities, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits, licenses and approvals from various governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Treasury, Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, state alcohol regulatory agencies and state and federal environmental agencies. U.S. governmental entities also levy taxes and may require bonds to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. In 2022, our U.S. business excise taxes on malt beverages were approximately $15 per hectoliter sold on a reported basis. Excise taxes are also levied in specific state and local jurisdictions at varying rates.

In Canada, provincial governments regulate the production, marketing, distribution, selling and pricing of beer and other alcoholic beverage produced or imported into Canada (including the establishment of minimum prices), and impose commodity taxes, mark-ups and license fees in relation to its production, distribution and sale. In addition, the Canadian federal government regulates the advertising, labeling, quality control, and international trade of beer, and also imposes commodity taxes on both domestically produced and imported beer. In 2022, our Canadian business excise taxes, federal and provincial, were approximately $56 per hectoliter sold on a reported basis. Further, certain bilateral and multilateral treaties entered into by the federal government, provincial governments and certain foreign governments, especially within the U.S., affect the Canadian beer industry.

Most countries that are part of our EMEA&APAC segment where we carry out significant brewing or distribution activities are either a member of the European Union ("EU") or a current candidate to join the EU. Montenegro is a potential

EU candidate and the U.K. left the EU during 2020. As such, there are similarities in the regulations that apply to many parts of our EMEA&APAC segment's operations and products, including brewing, food safety, labeling and packaging, marketing and advertising, environmental, health and safety, employment and data protection and regulations. To operate breweries and conduct our business in these countries, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits and licenses from various governmental agencies. The government(s) of each country in which we sell our products levies excise taxes on alcohol beverages. EU member countries' laws on excise taxes are consistent with the EU Directives and use the same measurements based on either alcohol by volume or Plato degrees. Non-EU countries use various taxation methods, including flat excise rate per volume or methods that may be similar to those used in the EU. In the year ended December 31, 2022, the excise taxes for our EMEA&APAC segment were approximately $43 per hectoliter on a reported basis.

People and Planet

Our Environmental, Social and Governance (“ESG”) pillars are People and Planet, and we have established goals and supporting initiatives for these pillars to attempt to ensure we are good stewards of the assets and resources most important to our business. More information about our strategy and progress can be found in our ESG Report, available at www.molsoncoors.com/sustainability. The information provided on our website (or any other website referred to in this report) is not part of this report and is not incorporated by reference as part of this report.

Governance of our People and Planet Strategy

Our Board of Directors (the “Board”) is responsible for overseeing and monitoring our overall ESG program, with specific areas of oversight delegated to the committees of the Board. The Board receives regular reports and recommendations from management and the Board committees to help guide our ESG strategy, from Planet goals related to water, packaging and climate change, to People initiatives focused on retaining and developing a diverse and talented workforce. At the management level, our ESG Leadership Steering Committee (“Steering Committee”) is composed of senior executives and is responsible for the evolution of our ESG strategy. Our Vice President of Sustainability & EHS, which is a new role in our Company filled in 2022, works closely with the Steering Committee on ESG strategy development and initiative implementation and progress for our People and Planet focus areas.

Our executive leadership team and the chief people and diversity officers for the Americas and EMEA&APAC segments are tasked with managing all employment-related matters including recruitment, retention, leadership and development, compensation planning, succession planning, performance management, and diversity, equity and inclusion. The Compensation and Human Resource Committee (“CHR Committee”) of the Board is responsible for establishing and reviewing the overall compensation philosophy of our Company and providing oversight on certain human capital matters, including our talent retention and development, leadership development, talent pipeline, programs and systems for performance management and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion ("DEI") initiatives. Further, the CHR Committee is responsible for overseeing our progress against our social initiatives related to human capital management.

Putting People First

We believe that people are the heart of our Company and strive to create a culture where people are encouraged to and feel comfortable about bringing their diverse perspectives and experiences to the table. As a global company, we believe we have a responsibility to nurture a workforce that reflects our local communities, which we believe makes us a better employer, partner, and company of choice for our consumers and customers.

We have a global and varied workforce, with major employee centers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Romania. As of December 31, 2022, we employed approximately 16,600 employees within our business globally with approximately 10,000 within our Americas segment and 6,600 within our EMEA&APAC segment. Approximately 650 of our employees are in our Global Business Services Centers based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Bucharest, Romania. As of December 31, 2022, approximately 31% and 24% of our Americas segment and EMEA&APAC segment workforces, respectively, are represented by trade unions or councils, which are subject to collective bargaining agreements that come due for renegotiation from time to time.

A significant component of our revitalization plan announced in October 2019 was to shift the culture of the organization to drive stronger employee and business engagement. In service of this, we refreshed our purpose (uniting people to celebrate all life’s moments), ambition (first choice for our people, consumers and customers) and shared company values, the first of which is Putting People First. Some highlights of our progress in Putting People First include:

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

We believe DEI should be deeply embedded in our corporate culture and how we operate, from how we work together to how we grow as a company. In 2020, we created a new position of Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for the

Americas, and in 2021 we established a Diversity & Inclusion Director role for EMEA&APAC. We created roadmaps and action plans for the Americas and EMEA&APAC based on an assessment of our existing culture, programs and talent management processes. In 2020, we established goals to increase diverse representation in the Company by 2023, with progress against those goals reported in our ESG Report.

Our 2022 initiatives and progress include:

  • Month of Inclusion - In order to further increase awareness around DEI issues, we launched a Month of Inclusion in 2021, which built on the Week of Inclusion we introduced in 2020. The Month of Inclusion continued in 2022 and brought together our U.S. and Canada employees, and our EMEA&APAC employees, respectively, to focus on prioritizing inclusion, equity and workplace respect. The 2022 Month of Inclusion included a variety of presentations, interactive sessions and fireside chats with leaders and external experts that were centered around intersectionality.

  • Employee Resource Groups ("ERGs") - In the Americas, we promote and maintain ERGs for a number of different communities in our employee population – by race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, early professionals, young families and veterans, amongst others. Our newest Americas ERG was established in 2022, Disabilities United. The ERGs are aimed to help foster a diverse, inclusive workplace aligned with our values and culture. In Western Europe, we created ERGs for gender, sexual orientation, disability and ethnicity and these groups are expected to play a key role in development of our strategy, initiatives and in encouraging and supporting all employees to bring their whole self to work.

  • EMEA&APAC Governance Structure - In EMEA&APAC, we have implemented a governance structure that strives to (i) link DEI to business strategy, (ii) demonstrate senior level accountability, (iii) provide a voice to diverse talent at all levels of our organization and (iv) allow for regional autonomy to attempt to assure relevancy. A Divisional DEI Council leads, advocates and is accountable for DEI progress in EMEA&APAC and aims to provide a common, coordinated approach across the regions. Further, Regional DEI Councils, with representatives sitting on the Divisional DEI Council, then attempt to ensure divisional connectivity while recognizing the need for flexibility. Membership of these councils includes senior leaders and employee representatives.

  • Empathy Experience - Our Empathy Experience in the Americas is a highly interactive and emotional learning experience focused on building empathy between colleagues, within teams and across our organization. As part of the experience, our employees split up into small groups and visit different rooms in order to try and help them better understand the lived experience of certain diverse groups and communities. In the U.S., the 2022 Empathy Experience was aimed at exploring relationships and perceptions across five communities: Latino, Black, Women, LGBTQ and Asian Pacific. In Canada in 2022, we developed a unique "In Canada, For Canada" Empathy Experience. Through education, stories and activities, the participants in these empathy experiences explore how biases, microaggressions and stereotypes affect others in hopes of fostering a better connection through empathy.

Employee Wellbeing

We strive to be a provider of meaningful experiences and a safe and healthy workplace for all employees.

  • Wellness - We promote healthy lifestyles across our global enterprise by offering health benefits, wellness and work/life balance programs that are tailored to employees' needs and culture by work location. In the U.S. and Canada, employees can participate in our wellness programs that incentivize healthy habits and lifestyles. These resources include connections to virtual healthcare, remote fitness and wellness support, and a free employee assistance program for coping with stress, feelings of isolation and anxiety. In the EMEA&APAC regions, we drive our employee wellbeing culture through a team made up of regional representatives who coordinate activities focused on the topics based on employee feedback. In 2022, these activities included certain wellness programs, as well as flexible work hours, wellness webinars and challenges, to further emphasize our wellbeing culture.

  • Health & Safety - Our World Class Supply Chain framework contains an Environmental, Health & Safety (“EHS”) commitment that supports proactive identification and control of EHS risks. We aim to prevent workplace injuries and illness and reduce environmental impacts of our operations through training and other methodologies.

  • Compensation and Benefits - We offer competitive, affordable and comprehensive benefits, which we routinely benchmark to try to ensure they are competitive, inclusive, aligned with our company culture and allow our employees to meet their individual needs and the needs of their families. Our Total Rewards program in general provides a competitive base salary, incentive plans, health, dental, and vision insurance plans, a deferred compensation option in certain regions with a potential employer match, paid time off plans, including parental leave policies in many locations, an engaging Wellness Program and an Employee Assistance Program. Our business units comply with applicable maternity leave laws and, in many countries, we go further to provide flexible work schedules and extended

leave for new parents. We believe our compensation rewards and incentive programs motivate us to be bold and decisive and ignite growth and hold us accountable for living out our values to achieve our short- and long-term goals.

  • Talent Development - Our aim is to help employees unlock their full potential so they can thrive in their current job and realize new, potential growth opportunities. In 2021, we launched a new talent planning experience designed to better understand each employee’s ambitions and identify growth opportunities that fit their needs and the needs of the Company. We increased the scope of the talent development experience across the regions of EMEA&APAC, and further built capability in our talent development experience across our business. We promote leadership and development opportunities which include our First Choice Learning Center in the Americas, in-person and online training programs, and experiential training opportunities to support employee health and safety, assist in building core competencies, share best practices, and develop leadership capabilities. In 2022, we launched a number of new programs to support the development of our high potential employees. Additionally, high potential employees in the regions of EMEA&APAC were able to undergo leadership development through a range of formal programs, experiential focused talent development, coaching and mentoring.

  • Employee Engagement - We believe that engaging our employees, through surveys during the onboarding process and throughout the employee journey, provides us with valuable insight into how we can develop our company culture to help ensure that our people feel supported and able to thrive at our company. We gauge our employees’ sentiments through Employee Experience surveys three times a year in the Americas and biannually in EMEA&APAC. In addition, our CEO regularly hosts live online question and answer sessions available to all employees. We believe these sessions also help create a company culture where open, honest dialogue is supported and encouraged, and where people are empowered to raise questions and concerns about our business and our culture.

Preserving the Planet

We have a long legacy of commitment to environmental sustainability, dating back to Bill Coors’ invention of the two-piece aluminum can in the late 1950s and implementation of some of the first recycling programs in the U.S.

In 2017, we launched Our Imprint 2025 Planet goals for climate and water and, in 2019, incorporated our ambition to make our packaging more sustainable. As further detailed in our annual ESG Report, we have set goals, which we aim to achieve by 2025, to:

  • Reduce our greenhouse gas emissions;

  • Reduce our water-to-product ratio, reduce the amount of water required to grow our barley, and restore water to key stressed watersheds in Colorado and Texas;

  • Make 100% of our packaging reusable, recyclable or compostable; and

  • Aim to ensure that our consumer-facing plastic packaging has a certain percentage of post-consumer recycled content.

As detailed in our annual ESG report, we continued the implementation of energy and water efficiency improvements across our facilities, including a multi-year renovation project of our Golden Colorado brewery, a renewables contract for our Fort Worth, Texas brewery and a wind-power based power purchase agreement in the U.K. In 2022, we also continued our partnership work to support water restoration activities in water-stressed portions of Texas and Colorado, as well as our Barley Growers program in the U.S.

Environmental Compliance Matters

Our operations are subject to a variety of extensive and changing federal, state and local environmental laws, regulations and ordinances that govern activities or operations that may have an impact on human health or the environment. Such laws, regulations or ordinances may impose liability for the cost of remediation, and for certain damages resulting from sites of past releases of hazardous materials. Our policy is to comply with all such legal requirements. While we cannot predict our eventual aggregate cost for the environmental and related matters in which we may be or are currently involved, we believe that any payments, if required, for these matters would be made over a period of time in amounts that would not be material in any one year to our operating results, cash flows, or our financial or competitive position. We believe adequate reserves have been provided for losses that are probable and estimable. However, there can be no assurance that environmental laws will not become more stringent in the future or that we will not incur material costs in the future in order to comply with such laws. See Part II—Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data, Note 13, "Commitments and Contingencies" under the caption "Environmental" for additional information regarding environmental matters.

Global Intellectual Property

We own trademarks on the majority of the brands we produce and have licenses for the remainder. We also hold several patent and design registrations with expiration dates through 2040 relating to brewing methods, beer dispensing systems, packaging and certain other innovations. We are not reliant on patent royalties for our financial success. Therefore, these expirations are not expected to have a significant impact on our business.

Available Information

We file with, or furnish to, the SEC reports, including our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act. These reports are available free of charge via EDGAR through the SEC website (www.sec.gov) and are also available free of charge on our corporate website (www.molsoncoors.com) as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The foregoing website addresses are provided as inactive textual references only. The information provided on our website (or any other website referred to in this report) is not part of this report and is not incorporated by reference as part of this report.

Information About Our Executive Officers

The following table sets forth certain information regarding our executive officers as of February 21, 2023:

NameAgePosition
Gavin D.K. Hattersley60President and Chief Executive Officer
Tracey I. Joubert56Chief Financial Officer
Sergey Yeskov46President and Chief Executive Officer, Molson Coors EMEA&APAC
Peter J. Marino50President, Emerging Growth
Anne-Marie Wieland D'Angelo46Chief Legal & Government Affairs Officer and Secretary
Michelle E. St. Jacques45Chief Marketing Officer

Previous: Cover and table of contents · Next: Item 1A. RISK FACTORS