Item 1. BUSINESS
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Item 1. BUSINESS
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 reporting segments. Our reporting segments include the Americas and EMEA&APAC. 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 and RSD.
Business and Market Overview
Our History
For more than two centuries, we have brewed beverages that unite people to celebrate all life’s moments. From our core power brands Coors Light, Miller Lite, Coors Banquet, Molson Canadian, Carling and Ožujsko to our above premium brands including Madrí Excepcional, Staropramen, Blue Moon Belgian White and Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy, to our economy and value brands like Miller High Life and Keystone Light, we produce many beloved and iconic beers. While our Company's history is rooted in beer, we offer a modern portfolio that expands beyond the beer aisle as well, including flavored beverages like Vizzy Hard Seltzer, spirits like Five Trail whiskey and non-alcoholic beverages. We also have partner brands, such as Simply Spiked, ZOA Energy, among others, through license, distribution, partnership and joint venture agreements. 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.
Our primary founders, the Molson, Coors and Miller families date back over two centuries. 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 Brewing Company was incorporated in June 1913 under the laws of the state of Colorado. In October 2003, Coors Brewing Company 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. In 2008, Molson Coors Brewing Company and the former SABMiller plc formed the MillerCoors joint venture that combined their respective operations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. In 2016, we acquired 100% of the outstanding equity and voting interests of MillerCoors, from 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 Industry and Our Competitors
The brewing industry has significantly evolved over the years to become an increasingly global and complex market as the consolidation of brewers globally has resulted in a small number of large global brewers representing the majority of the worldwide beer market. Although we believe consolidation among current major brewers has largely concluded, the current landscape primarily features smaller-scale acquisitions including exports, licensing, and partnership arrangements. These activities continue to occur predominantly among the same global competitors that represent the majority of the market. While the majority of the market is represented by a small number of large global brewers, smaller local brewers continue to inhabit the market as consumers place value on locally-produced, regionally-sourced products.
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. We are the fourth largest global brewer in the world. In the U.S. and Canada, we compete most directly with Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV ("ABI") and Constellation Brands, Inc., 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 Heineken, Asahi, Carlsberg and ABI.
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 spirits have grown faster than sales of beer in recent years, driven by, among other things, increased spirits advertising, a narrowing price gap with spirits and the growth of spirits-based ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. This has resulted in a reduction in the beer segment's lead in the overall alcohol beverage market over the last decade.
Our Strategy
Consumer preferences have continued to shift within the industry to above premium products, with volume growth in recent years seen in flavored malt beverages, imports and super premium portfolios. Consumers are also expanding further into spirits, particularly to spirits-based ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages.
In addition, during 2023, in the U.S., we saw a shift in consumer purchasing behavior largely within the premium segment that drove an increase in our core power brands' net sales.
As the beer industry continues its 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. Therefore, in October 2023, we announced our Acceleration Plan, building off the successes achieved under the Revitalization Plan, which was announced in October 2019. The Acceleration Plan focuses on the execution of the following principal strategies: consistently grow our core power brand net sales, aggressively premiumize our portfolio, scale and expand in beyond beer, invest in our capabilities and support our people, communities and planet. Under this plan, we aim to further accelerate our premiumization efforts, targeting one-third of our global brand portfolio within the above premium category in the medium term, while continuing to invest in operational enhancements and expanding beyond beer.
Our core power brands, such as Coors Light, Miller Lite, Coors Banquet, Molson Canadian, Carling and Ožujsko are important to the success of our long-term growth and therefore, we have focused efforts to expand strategic distribution and increase brand visibility while staying relevant with consumers.
We believe we are well positioned to compete in this continually evolving market, particularly in beer and beyond beer, including, flavor, full strength spirits and non-alcoholic beverages where we think we have a right to win. This includes premiumizing our product mix, leveraging learnings from and building on the successes achieved in certain markets such as EMEA&APAC.
Our investments in capabilities across our organization that support premiumization and focused innovation, supply chain efficiencies and commercial effectiveness across geographies are central to this strategy, designed to ensure that we have the infrastructure to support both profitable growth and diversification.
Our Segments
Our reporting segments include the Americas and EMEA&APAC. 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.
Americas Segment
Our Americas segment consists of the production, importing, marketing, distribution and sales of our owned brands and partner brands and licensed brands in the U.S., Canada and various countries in Latin America. We currently operate nine primary breweries, three craft breweries and two container operations. The Americas segment also includes partnership arrangements with Brewers' Retail Inc. ("BRI") for the distribution of beer in Ontario, Canada, and Brewers' Distributor Ltd. ("BDL") for the distribution of beer in the western provinces of Canada. 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. We also have authorizations from The Coca-Cola Company that grant us the right to produce, market, sell and distribute Simply Spiked branded products in the U.S. and Canada, as well as Topo Chico Hard Seltzer products in the U.S. We have agreements to brew, package and ship products for The Yuengling Company ("TYC") in the U.S.
Additionally, we had a contract brewing arrangement with Pabst Brewing Company, LLC, as well as a brewing and packaging agreement with FIFCO USA for Labatt brands in Canada for export, both of which ended in the fourth quarter of 2024.
EMEA&APAC Segment
The EMEA&APAC segment consists of the 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 regions. We currently operate eleven primary breweries, four craft breweries and one cidery. The majority of our EMEA&APAC segment sales are in the U.K., Croatia, Romania and the Czech Republic, with the U.K. representing over 55% of the segment's net sales in 2024.
Our portfolio includes beers that have the largest share in their respective segments, such as Carling in the U.K. and Ožujsko in Croatia. We have beers that rank in the top five in market share in their respective segments throughout the region, such as Staropramen in the Czech Republic and Bergenbier in Romania. Additionally, we sell Staropramen, Coors, Madrí Excepcional and Miller Genuine Draft in various countries. Our EMEA&APAC segment includes the sale of factored brands in the U.K. which occurs when we distribute beer, wine, spirits and other products owned and produced by other companies to the on-premise channel, such as bars and restaurants. Sales from factored brands are included in our net sales and cost of goods sold when ultimately sold.
Unallocated
We have certain activity that is not allocated to our segments, which is reflected in "Unallocated". Unallocated primarily includes certain financing-related activities such as interest expense and interest income, foreign exchange gains and losses on intercompany balances as well as realized and unrealized changes in fair value on derivative instruments not designated in hedging relationships related to financing and other treasury-related activities. Unallocated activity also includes 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 in Unallocated.
Business Seasonality
Total industry volume is sensitive to factors such as weather, holidays, changes in demographics, consumer preferences and certain occasions including major broadcasted or streamed 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 financial 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.
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 distributor relationships, sales, brewing and transportation, marketing and advertising and environmental issues. Specifically, excise taxes remitted to tax authorities are government-imposed excise taxes on beer which are shown in a separate line item in the consolidated statements of operations as a reduction of sales.
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 including state and local jurisdictions also levy taxes and may require bonds to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations. In 2024, our U.S. business excise taxes on malt beverages were approximately $15 per hectoliter sold on a reported basis.
In Canada, provincial governments regulate the production, marketing, distribution, selling and pricing of beer and other alcoholic beverages 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. 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. In 2024, our Canadian business excise taxes, federal and provincial, were approximately $55 per hectoliter sold on a reported basis.
Most countries included in 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, with the exception of the U.K. 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, data protection and regulations. In the U.K., although the regulatory framework for these areas broadly aligns with the EU, there are some differences due to the U.K.'s departure from the EU ("Brexit"), particularly in areas such as labeling, marketing, and data protection standards. To operate breweries and conduct our business in these countries, we must obtain and maintain numerous permits and licenses from various governmental agencies.
All of the government(s) of each country in which we sell our products in the EMEA&APAC segment levy excise taxes on alcohol beverages. All countries which are members of the EU apply laws on excise taxes that are consistent with EU legislative acts, also known as EU Directives, and use measurements based on either alcohol by volume or Plato degrees. In contrast, the U.K. has established its own excise duty system post-Brexit, which includes specific rates and requirements. Non-EU countries use various taxation methods, including a flat excise rate per volume or methods similar to those used in the EU. In the year ended December 31, 2024, the excise taxes for our EMEA&APAC segment were approximately $46 per hectoliter on a reported basis.
Products and Operations
Our Products
We craft and distribute high-quality, innovative beverages with the purpose of uniting people to celebrate all life's moments. We have a diverse portfolio of beloved and iconic owned and partner brands. In addition to offering beers in various price segments, we offer products in various categories like flavored beverages (which includes hard seltzers), craft, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages including energy drinks. 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:
Above Premium - Arnold Palmer Spiked, Aspall Cider, Beck's*, Blue Moon, Blue Run Spirits*, Cobra, Corona Extra*, Coors Original, Five Trail, Heineken*, Leinenkugel's* brands*, Madrí Excepcional, Miller Genuine Draft, Molson Ultra*, Peroni Nastro Azurro, Pilsner Urquell*, Redd's* brands*, Sharp's, Simply Spiked, Sol*, Staropramen, Stella Artois*, Topo Chico Hard Seltzer*, Vizzy Hard Seltzer, ZOA Energy**
Premium - Bergenbier, Borsodi, Burgasko, Caraiman, Carling, Coors Banquet, Coors Light, Jelen, Kamenitza, Miller Lite, Molson Canadian brands*, Niksicko, Ožujsko*
Economy - Branik, Icehouse, Keystone, Lowenbrau, Miller High Life, Milwaukee's Best, Steel Reserve*
- Represents various partner brand agreements with third parties, such as license, distribution, partnership and joint venture agreements. These agreements may only reside in certain geographies and not all markets globally.
Sales and Distribution
Our go to market strategy differs between geographic regions due to the differences in regulations among those areas. No single customer accounted for more than 10% of our consolidated net sales for the years ended December 31, 2024, 2023 or 2022.
In the U.S., beer is generally distributed through a three-tier system consisting of manufacturers, distributors and retailers. A national network of 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 5% of our total owned and non-owned Americas segment net sales for the year ended December 31, 2024. Transportation of our products to distributors in the U.S. is primarily contracted through third-party logistics providers and shipped by truckload. Transportation costs for shipping product throughout our network is performed through contracted freight carriers or, if needed, through the spot bidding freight market. In the Americas, we have taken steps to diversify transportation modes to reduce the impact of truck market volatility including shipping via railcar and intermodal shipping containers.
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 2024, Ontario experienced an expansion of the retail sale of alcoholic beverages. As of the end of October 2024, every eligible convenience, grocery and big-box grocery store in Ontario is now able to sell beer, cider, wine and ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages in addition to the previously allowed retail outlets operated by BRI, government-regulated retail outlets operated by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario ("LCBO"), approved agents of the LCBO, certain licensed grocery stores, or any bar, restaurant, or tavern licensed by the LCBO to sell alcohol for on-premise consumption. In Québec, 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 operated by the Société des Alcools du Québec, a government corporation in Québec. BDL manages the distribution of our products throughout British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
In Latin 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 export 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- 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 agreements with DHL Supply Chain Limited to provide the distribution of our products throughout the U.K. 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. Approximately 18% of our EMEA&APAC segment net sales in 2024 represented factored brands.
In addition, we have an agreement with Heineken whereby they sell, market and distribute Coors, Carling, Madrí Excepcional and other brands 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 to convenience stores, grocery stores, liquor stores and other retail outlets. Industry channel trends vary by segment.
With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic during the year ended December 31, 2020, we experienced a significant adverse impact on the operating results of our Company resulting from the closure of the on-premise channel and increased restrictions which effectively shut down the on-premise channel for various portions of time across the geographies in which we operate. We began to see a progressive return to the on-premise channel at varying degrees across geographies throughout the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2022. By the year ended December 31, 2023, and continuing into the year ended December 31, 2024, we observed a more normalized level of on-premise volume as a percentage of total volume, returning to approximately 16% on-premise in the U.S. and Canada and above 60% on-premise in the U.K., the largest region in our EMEA&APAC segment, largely consistent with pre-pandemic distribution patterns.
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 primarily sourced from Germany, the U.K., 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 our Golden, Colorado facility, using barley purchased primarily under annual contracts with independent farmers located predominately in the western U.S. and Canadian Prairies. In addition, to meet our full requirements, we source barley malt from other commercial providers, from which we have a committed supply through 2025. Other brewing adjuncts and other malt and cereal grains are purchased primarily from suppliers in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, we both own and lease water rights, as well as purchase water through local municipalities and communities, to provide for and sustain our brewing operations in the U.S. and Canada.
In EMEA&APAC, our malt requirements are 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 through 2027. Adjuncts are purchased under various contracts with local producers, which are typically crop year contracts commencing in October of each year. 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.
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. 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, reusable kegs and casks and recyclable plastic containers.
In the Americas segment, a portion of the aluminum cans and ends are purchased from Rocky Mountain Metal Container ("RMMC"), our joint venture with Ball Corporation, whose production facilities, which are leased from us, are located near our brewery in Golden, Colorado. We have supply agreements with Ball Corporation and other vendors to purchase aluminum containers in addition to what is supplied from RMMC.
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., whose production facilities, which are leased from us, are located in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. We have supply agreements with Owens-Brockway Glass Container, Inc., and other vendors for requirements in excess of RMBC's production.
In the EMEA&APAC segments, we manage packaging needs through diversified contracts, which have provided a reliable supply of aluminum cans, glass bottles, and kegs. Flexible keg sourcing adapts to annual changes, enhancing supply security without long-term commitments.
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.
Sustainability
Through our overall business strategy and our sustainability strategy, referred to as "Our Imprint," we have established goals and supporting initiatives for Putting People First and Preserving Our Planet in an 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 Imprint Report, available at www.molsoncoors.com/goals-and-reporting. 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
Our Board of Directors ("Board") is responsible for overseeing and monitoring Our Imprint Strategy, 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 strategy, from goals related to water, packaging and climate change, to initiatives focused on building a strong culture and engagement within our people, our workplace and our marketplace. At the management level, our executive leadership team, chaired by the Chief Executive Officer, is responsible for the oversight and the evolution of Our Imprint Strategy. Our Vice President of Sustainability & EHS works closely with the executive leadership team on strategy development, initiative implementation and progress for our environmental sustainability focus areas.
Our executive leadership team and the chief people and culture officers for the Americas and EMEA&APAC segments are tasked with managing all employment-related matters including recruitment, retention, leadership and development, compensation and benefits planning, succession planning, performance management, and culture and engagement. 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 and initiatives, including those related to our talent retention and development, leadership development, talent pipeline, programs and systems for performance management, health and safety and our culture and engagement.
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 to bring their unique perspectives and experiences to drive our business forward. As a global company, we believe we have a responsibility to nurture a workforce that reflects our marketplace, 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, 2024, we employed approximately 16,800 employees within our business globally with approximately 10,300 employees within our Americas segment and 6,500 employees within our EMEA&APAC segment. Approximately 700 of our employees are in our Global Business Services Centers based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Bucharest, Romania. As of December 31, 2024, approximately 28% 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.
We believe fostering a strong culture with a highly engaged workforce is critical to how we operate, from how we work together to how we grow as a company. Related action plans for the Americas and EMEA&APAC segments are expected to be delivered through three key pillars: People, Workplace and Marketplace.
To be first choice for our employees, we deploy programs, policies and initiatives to foster a culture of engagement where employees have the opportunity to learn and grow, developing both professionally and personally. Our 2024 initiatives and progress included:
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Business Resource Groups - In both Americas and EMEA&APAC, we promoted and supported our self-governed employee Business Resource Groups ("BRGs") in their work to connect, engage, and develop their members while achieving business and strategic objectives. Our BRGs are supportive to their members and allies and are acknowledged internally and externally for building an inclusive workplace, supporting business growth and member development and enriching the communities in which we do business.
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Employee Wellbeing - We strive to be a provider of meaningful experiences and a safe and healthy workplace for all employees.
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Wellness - We promote healthy lifestyles across our global enterprise by offering health and insurance benefits and wellness and work/life balance programs that are tailored to employees' needs and culture by work location. In the Americas, 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 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 2024, these activities included certain wellness programs, as well as flexible work hours, wellness webinars and challenges, to further emphasize our wellbeing culture.
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Health & Safety - We also promote safe and healthy behaviors at work and home. Our commitment to Health & Safety is focused on preventing workplace incidents and building a strong behavior-based safety culture across our entire workforce through training, our World Class Supply Chain operating system, our values-based leadership development approach and safety moments at the start of many meetings in both our manufacturing facilities and office environments.
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Compensation and Benefits - We offer affordable and comprehensive benefits, which we routinely benchmark to try to ensure they are competitive, inclusive, aligned with our company culture and local practices, 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 and insurance benefits, a deferred compensation option in certain regions with a potential employer match, paid time off plans, enhanced parental leave policies in many locations, an engaging Wellness Program and an Employee Assistance Program. Our business units comply with applicable parental leave laws and in many cases go further to provide flexible work schedules and extended leave for new parents. We believe our compensation and incentive programs motivate us to ignite growth and help to hold ourselves accountable for living out our values to achieve our short- and long-term goals.
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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. At Molson Coors, First Choice Learning serves as the global home for development resources to support the unique needs of our employees around the world. First Choice Learning invests in our people through 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 2024, we continued to invest in targeted development programs, including one aimed to accelerate the readiness of high potential employees to move into roles of greater scope and complexity. These programs include a blend of classroom training, coaching and mentoring and experiential action learning projects.
- 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 are able to thrive at our company. We gauge our employees’ sentiments through Employee Experience surveys three times a year in the Americas and yearly in EMEA&APAC. In addition, our Chief Executive Officer regularly hosts 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’ pioneering efforts to bring the two-piece aluminum can to market in the late 1950s and implementation of some of the first recycling programs in the U.S. In 2017, we launched Our Imprint goals for climate and water and, in 2019, incorporated our ambition to make our packaging more sustainable. As further detailed in the annual Our Imprint Report, we have several key sustainability focus areas:
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Greenhouse Gas ("GHG") Emissions – Against our 2016 baseline, our goal is to reduce Scope 1 & 2 GHG emissions by 50% by the end of 2025 and 65% by the end of 2030 along with a 40% reduction in Scope 3 emissions by the end of 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions (Scope 1, 2 & 3) by at least 2050. We continue to implement 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.
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Watershed Stewardship – In recognition of our important role in our local watersheds, we targeted an overall 22% improvement by the end of 2025 (versus 2016 baseline) in the water-to-product ratio of our breweries producing more than 150,000 hectoliters annually. We collaborate with key partners on watershed management programs to improve the health of the Trinity River Basin watershed in Texas (home of our Fort Worth brewery) and the Upper South Platte River watershed in Colorado (home of our Golden brewery).
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Packaging – We aim to use widely recyclable packaging materials such as aluminum cans, glass bottles and fiberboard cartons, and we are working to eliminate polyethylene terephthalate ("PET") bottles and single-use plastic rings for our beer brands in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. while our Central & Eastern European operations are on pace to ensuring the PET bottles in those markets contain at least 25% recycled content by the end of 2025 and 30% by the end of 2030.
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Agricultural Practices – We work closely with our barley farmers in the U.S. and Canada to test and learn with different growing practices across multiple regions and collect a broad range of data including water consumption. Against our 2016 baseline, by the end of 2025, our goal is to produce the annual barley crop with 10% less water per ton yielded.
See the annual Our Imprint Report for additional information. As discussed further under Item 1A. Risk Factors, our progress towards these goals and objectives may be influenced and impacted by, among other things, various stakeholders and developments beyond our control.
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 2043 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 18, 2025:
| Name | Age | Position | ||||||||||||
| Gavin D.K. Hattersley | 62 | President and Chief Executive Officer | ||||||||||||
| Tracey I. Joubert | 58 | Chief Financial Officer | ||||||||||||
| Natalie Maciolek | 46 | Chief Legal & Government Affairs Officer and Secretary | ||||||||||||
| Michelle E. St. Jacques | 47 | Chief Commercial Officer | ||||||||||||
| Philip M. Whitehead | 47 | President and Chief Executive Officer, Molson Coors EMEA&APAC |
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