Heineken’s beer sales up in third quarter 2017
Heineken NV, the world’s number two brewer, reported a 2.5 percent increase in third-quarter beer sales to 60 million hl on 26 October 2017, with growth in all regions except Europe, where cool summer weather reduced demand, and in the United States.
The Dutch brewer said strong growth in the Asia Pacific region, outside China, led to a 12.2 percent increase in beer volumes, while strength in South Africa, Ethiopia and Russia led to an 8.8 percent rise in sales in its Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe region. In Russia, volume was up double digit due to the strong performance of the Heineken brand and recent product launches in the economy segment, the company reported.
In Europe, its major region, beer sales were down 2.8 percent due to bad weather in France and the Netherlands as well as weakness in Poland and Britain. In Poland, volumes declined mid-single digit, following a reduction in promotional activity, while in the UK Heineken’s volumes were negatively impacted after the supermarket chain Tesco decided to pull some Heineken brands from its shelves over planned price increases.
Heineken did not report revenues. All it said was that net profit for the nine months was EUR 1.48 billion (2016: EUR 1.24 billion). In the nine months of 2016, reported net profit included an asset impairment of EUR 233 million in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
