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Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s biggest brewer, managed to squeeze more profits from smaller beer sales in its second quarter.

Thanks to cost savings in North America, the company blew through analysts’ profit predictions. Its beer sales — measured by liquid sold — fell 1.1 percent worldwide. But revenue rose 1.4 percent to $9.5 billion, and profit margins widened as the company posted $1.07 billion in quarterly earnings.

"Profits were higher than expected with the excellent cost management — again — from their side," said Wim Hoste, analyst at KBC Securities in Belgium. "This was a good set of results."

In the first half of the year, North America chipped in nearly half of the company’s global earnings. The company now reports its financial results in dollars and New York serves as a shadow headquarters. (Officially, it is still based in the university town of Leuven, Belgium.)

"When it comes down to basics, these guys basically care about three markets: Brazil, China and the U.S.," said Rob Mann, consumer goods analyst at Liberum Capital in London. "This is now an American business with a very powerful Latin American franchise."

The company said the $52 billion takeover of Anheuser-Busch continues to yield cost savings, with integration running ahead of schedule. The combined company delivered $315 million in synergies in the second quarter and $610 million in the first half of the year by cutting costs —

including jobs — implementing InBev’s famously strict budgeting procedures and using its size to get better terms from suppliers. The company said it is on pace to deliver $1 billion in cost cuts from the Anheuser-Busch takeover this year — a goal Hoste said is starting to look "conservative," given the company’s track record.

In the first six months of the year, Anheuser-Busch InBev sold $3.56 billion of assets, including brewing assets in China and South Korea, as well as packaging plants in the U.S. The company said it remained focused on reducing its debt and selling off assets in a "disciplined" manner.

The company is reducing its ratio of debt to earnings and is in the enviable position of not needing to sell assets in a fire sale, said Hoste. "They are not a forced seller," he said. "They can choose their deals or just let them go if the price is not right or the structure is not right payday advance lenders."

But Anheuser-Busch InBev issued a cautious outlook, warning that demand was weaker and the overall environment "challenging." Executives said the beer industry is resilient in most key regions but is susceptible to economic pressures and won’t improve quickly.

Shares of Anheuser-Busch InBev fell more than 5 percent on Thursday — the most since April — after the company said it didn’t expect to keep boosting profits at the same rate.

Competitors are weathering the same stagnant beer market: London-based SABMiller’s recent sales volumes were flat, and Danish brewer Carlsberg reported that volumes dropped 6 percent in the latest quarter.

"All the brewers are getting hurt from the global economic downturn," said Hoste. "A-B InBev is no exception."

The company gained market share in the U.S., its largest single market, but only because its sales fell less dramatically than its competitors’. Sales of Anheuser-Busch InBev beer from wholesalers to retailers fell 0.8 percent — "sluggish" results, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.

Still, the company credited its "diverse portfolio" with helping it weather the difficult environment.

Anheuser-Busch InBev said its "focus brands" did better than its overall stable of 300 brands. Sales volumes of the focus brands rose 1.5 percent in the quarter. That group included Brahma and Skol from Brazil, China’s Harbin and the Bud Light family from the U.S. The brewer vowed to keep investing "significant sales and marketing resources" in its biggest brands.

The company gained market share in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, South Korea, Ukraine, the U.K. and the U.S.

For Anheuser-Busch InBev, the past three months represent a marked improvement over the past few years, said Mann. InBev suffered some troubling missteps before and shortly after taking over Anheuser-Busch. Russia was a disaster for InBev for some time, and Stella Artois stumbled badly in the U.K., for example.

"It was difficult to find any bright spots," said Mann. "But then they did a very large deal (with Anheuser-Busch), and bought themselves some stability. Those (profit) margins are pretty stunning."

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