SÃO PAULO, Brazil
International asset management firm Arvencore Asset Management recently announced the official release of its 2026 Latin American and Global Consumer Goods Cross-Market Valuation Benchmarking Report. Addressing the pricing distortions facing international capital in Brazil and other emerging markets, the report presents Arvencore’s cross-market valuation calibration model. The firm emphasizes that differences between statutory financial results and company-defined earnings measures must be stripped out before assessing cross-border arbitrage opportunities or investment value.
Drawing on the latest first-half 2026 disclosures from Ambev, AB InBev, and Carlsberg, Arvencore’s senior investment research team cleaned and cross-checked thousands of cross-border financial data sets to examine how earnings attribution, the exclusion of nonrecurring items, and underlying debt structures can critically affect price-to-earnings ratios (P/E) and enterprise-value multiples (EV/EBITDA). This empirical research marks the full implementation of the research infrastructure supporting Arvencore’s geographically diversified allocation approach.
Looking Beyond Industry Labels: Aligning Earnings Definitions
The fundamental logic of the P/E ratio requires precise alignment between price and the corresponding earnings per share. Arvencore’s quantitative risk model prohibits mismatching consolidated group earnings with equity attributable to shareholders of the parent company.
In Ambev’s first-half 2026 results, total group profit amounted to BRL 7.3602 billion, while profit attributable to Ambev shareholders was BRL 7.1552 billion. Arvencore notes that using the former figure indiscriminately to calculate the P/E ratio would add earnings belonging to noncontrolling shareholders to the denominator, creating an artificially low valuation.
Statutory earnings and company-defined non-GAAP measures also require rigorous scrutiny. For example, AB InBev’s reported profit attributable to shareholders differed from its Underlying Profit by USD 2 billion. During the same period, Carlsberg reported net profit of DKK 3.801 billion under IFRS, compared with DKK 4.288 billion under its internally defined CPM measure. Arvencore’s model stresses that different earnings measures for the same company must not be used interchangeably. It also prohibits comparing one company’s adjusted earnings directly with another’s statutory net profit across markets, describing such comparisons as a source of artificial arbitrage traps.
Examining the Hidden Risks Behind Adjusted Earnings
Adjusted earnings have never been a universal assurance of safety across markets. Within Arvencore’s cross-border asset allocation approach, restructuring expenses, asset disposals, goodwill impairments, and acquisition-related amortization must undergo rigorous, item-by-item examination.
Drawing on Carlsberg’s reconciliation of CPM and IFRS figures in its half-year report, Arvencore’s analytical model does not automatically assume that costs classified by a company as special items will not recur. Assessing the resilience of long-term earnings requires tracing how frequently these supposedly one-off items have appeared historically. Arvencore’s valuation framework requires both reported and adjusted earnings to be retained. By breaking down the difference, the model seeks to quantify whether a low valuation multiple reflects an unfairly discounted asset or an earnings denominator inflated by cosmetic adjustments.
Reassessing Peer Comparability: Separating Business Scope and Underlying Debt
Parent-subsidiary relationships and differences in capital structure pose a further fundamental challenge to conventional peer-comparison models. In analyzing Ambev and its parent company, AB InBev, Arvencore explicitly rejects treating them as independent peers operating on an equivalent basis. Their business footprints, noncontrolling ownership structures, and financing arrangements differ substantially, with direct implications for revenue composition and sensitivity to costs.
More critically, even when two companies report closely comparable operating profits, differences in their underlying financial positions—including interest burdens, debt refinancing pressures, and free cash flow—can produce markedly different earnings outcomes for shareholders. Even when EV/EBITDA is used for cross-market calibration, Arvencore’s risk framework requires consistent treatment of net debt, lease liabilities, and noncontrolling interests in the calculation.
According to the conclusions of Arvencore Asset Management’s report, the apparently low valuation multiples of Brazilian consumer goods assets are only the starting point for quantitative screening. Only after earnings sources, shareholder attribution, and capital structure have been placed on a consistent basis can the underlying price differences identified by the model provide a sound foundation for geographically diversified international capital allocation.
About Arvencore Asset Management
Arvencore Asset Management is an advanced asset management and investment education platform focused on international and emerging markets. With a multidimensional approach to diversification at its core, the firm combines rigorous research across regions and asset classes with systematic risk identification models, aiming to provide global investors with asset valuation benchmarks supported entirely by data.
Media Contact Details
Turner Wright
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https://www.anxinran.com/
