Molson Coors Beverage Co. has recently experienced significant disruptions due to a cybersecurity incident, as reported in a recent filing with federal regulators. This incident, coupled with extreme winter weather in Texas, has led to delays in brewery operations, production, and shipments across the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. As a result, Molson Coors anticipates a shift of approximately 1.8 million to 2 million hectoliters of production and shipments from the first quarter to later in the fiscal year. This shift is expected to redistribute $120 million to $140 million in EBITDA throughout the remaining fiscal year.
The cyberattack, whose specific cause has not been publicly identified by the company, has necessitated the involvement of consultants and experts for data recovery, leading to one-time incremental costs in the first and second quarters. This event is part of a larger trend of increased malware and ransomware attacks affecting various industries globally.
A Trend Micro study revealed that 61% of manufacturers have suffered cyber incidents, with 75% experiencing outages, of which 43% lasted more than four days. This study highlights the vulnerability of the food and beverage sector, including companies like Molson Coors, to such cyber threats. Continuous plant operations make regular IT maintenance challenging, increasing susceptibility to cyberattacks.
In response to this incident, Molson Coors has been actively working to restore its systems and mitigate the impact. The company hired a forensic IT firm and legal counsel for investigation purposes and is collaborating with law enforcement and insurance companies. Despite these challenges, Molson Coors’ CEO Gavin Hattersley expressed optimism about the company’s future and reaffirmed its commitment to achieving mid-single-digit revenue growth for the full year 2021.
