Molson Coors continuing to experience disruptions from cyberattack

MONTREAL — Molson Coors Beverage Co. says it continues to experience some delays and disruptions in its business in the U.K., Canada and the U.S. resulting from a cyberattack disclosed earlier this month.

The Denver and Montreal-based company says it has made “substantial progress” in restoring its systems with all breweries producing and shipping products and ramping up to normal operating levels.

However, despite help from leading forensic information technology firms and advisers, Molson Coors said the cyber-incident disclosed March 11 has affected its brewery operations, production and shipments in the three countries.

The event was preceded by an unprecedented February winter storm in Texas that caused its Fort Worth brewery to be offline for 11 days because of energy restrictions by the state government.

The beverage company said its first-quarter results were also negatively impacted by ongoing shutdowns in the U.K. due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Nonetheless, its reaffirmed its key financial guidance for fiscal 2021, including a mid-single-digit increase in net sales revenue in 2021 on a constant currency basis and that the board will be in a position to reinstate a dividend in the second half of 2021.

“Over the past few weeks, we have faced significant and unforeseeable obstacles,” stated CEO Gavin Hattersley.

“While these obstacles will have a negative impact on our first quarter shipments and financial results, we believe the fundamentals of our revitalization plan are strong and our future remains bright.”

It said the cybersecurity incident and Texas storms will shift 1.8 to two million hectolitres of production and shipments along with US$120 million to US$140 million of underlying EBITDA from the first quarter to the rest of the fiscal year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 26, 2021.

News from © Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. 2021.