Heineken CEE hopes to return to growth in 2011

Mr Nusmeier defended Heineken’s decision to instantly pass on to customers in the first half the burden of a 200 percent increase of Russian excise duty. The price increases cost Heineken a loss of volume that exceeded the overall 9 percent market-volume decline resulting from the duty increase.

For Heineken it was a choice between financial results and market share. And then there was the element of what signal to send to the Russian government.

What would the Russian government have thought if brewers did not pass the rise in duty on to consumers? That brewers in Russia make such a killing they can afford to take a hit on their profits?

In Austria, Heineken’s beer sales rose 2 percent – while the market grew 0.4 percent.

Heineken CEE kept first-half sales stable at EUR 1.5 billion compared with the same period last year. EBIT (beia) was EUR 152 million, down 4.4 percent year-on-year.