By Carol Ryan

Budweiser's owner has some reassuring news about the state of the global beer market.

The world's biggest brewer, Anheuser Busch InBev, said Thursday that revenues in the three months through June fell 18% compared with the same period last year. Analysts were braced for a steeper decline of 23%. A 34% dip in the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization was also better than expected, thanks to cost cuts as well as resilient sales.

AB InBev's stock was up 6% at midday in Europe. Investors may have been relieved that the Bud brewer fared better than rival Heineken on profits -- which said in a prerelease two weeks ago that its first-half operating income more than halved.

Given that bars and restaurants were shut around the world for much of the second quarter -- not to mention total bans on selling alcohol in South Africa, Mexico and Peru -- AB InBev's sales could have been a lot worse. The company reacted quickly to pick up business in other sales channels. In China, for instance, the brewer increased its share of the e-commerce market to more than twice that of local competitor Tsingtao.

North America was AB InBev's best-performing region, with the amount of beer sold down just 6% overall. Mainstream brands such as Budweiser, which had been losing market share for years, got a boost as U.S. consumers loaded up on big packs of beer in the supermarket. Data from Nielsen shows that Americans spent 13% more on beer to drink at home in the 17-week period to mid-July than the same period of last year.

It could be an early sign of beer's relative resilience -- even in a recession driven by social distancing. In previous economic downturns, brewers have proven more defensive than liquor companies. Beer's lack of exposure to airport duty-free sales is a bonus now that so few people feel safe to fly. Global distillers like Pernod Ricard and Diageo rely on travel retail for 5% to 10% of their revenue, based on Citi estimates.

A second wave of lockdowns is a big risk. AB InBev took a $2.5 billion impairment on its Africa business, in part because a second alcohol ban in South Africa will drag on sales there in the third quarter. And while major beer markets are holding up surprisingly well, consumer spending could weaken once government subsidies roll off and staff layoffs become more permanent.

AB InBev's shares are still down more than 30% this year, reflecting worries about how the company will reduce its $87 billion debt pile on weaker earnings. Yet these concerns may prove overdone. Some of the brewer's strongest markets in the second quarter, like the U.S. and Brazil, were among those hit hardest by the pandemic. A health crisis, oddly enough, doesn't stop the beer flowing as much as feared.

Write to Carol Ryan at carol.ryan@wsj.com