United Kingdom | Dutch brewer Heineken seeks to transform its tired pubs across the UK. The firm is spending GBP 39 million (USD 49 million) to reopen 62 pubs that were closed in recent years and refurbish some 600 sites, the BBC reported on 6 May.

Belgium | AB-InBev showed a strong first-quarter performance, indicating that the impact of the ongoing Bud Light boycott in the US is diminishing. Revenues of USD 14.5 billion increased 2.3 percent from the year-ago quarter, in line with expectations, while EBITDA and volumes grew better than forecast, including in North America, its largest region by revenues, analysts said.

United Kingdom | The Heineken brand did not carry the crown for long. Corona Extra reclaimed the title as the world’s most valuable beer brand, after its brand value increased by 40 percent and it surpassed Heineken, according to the 2024 Brand Finance Beers 50 report, published in early May.

Germany | Who would have thought that the launch of a non-alcoholic Augustiner Helles in March would get punters into a tizzy? As locals swap tips as to how to get hold of the scarce supplies, the commentariat is swooning about the 700-year-old brewery breaking with tradition and brewing a non-alcoholic version of its classic Helles.

Ireland | Obtaining planning permission is notoriously difficult in Ireland and even more so in rural areas. Diageo, the owner of Guinness, may have been a bit overambitious when it announced in 2022 that its new EUR 200 million brewery on the island would be operational this year.

Denmark | Danish brewer Carlsberg sold more of its premium beer brands and saw price increases in all its main markets during the first quarter, although beer drinkers in China continued to hold back, its CEO said on 30 April.

United Kingdom | Currently the market for craft beer is very tough and brewery failures are rising. But the private equity group Breal seems to believe that things will improve eventually and craft beer sales will rise again. Over the course of the past year, Breal has acquired four craft breweries on the cusp of going bust. Breal believes it can turn them around while adding more breweries to its portfolio in order to improve economies of scale.

Russia | The duty on imported beer from countries officially called “unfriendly” (that is most of Western countries) has risen 2.5 times, the Russian business paper Kommersant reported on 20 April. If it was RUB 4 per litre before, it is now RUB 10 (USD 0.11), according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Spain | With Catalonia experiencing its fourth successive year of drought, the Spanish-German cava giant Freixenet, a brand of sparkling wines, is to furlough 80 percent of its workers in the north-eastern Spanish region, media reported on 23 April.

United Kingdom | Major companies with a presence in Britain, including brewer AB-InBev and the bottler Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, are taking well over 100 days to pay back their suppliers, according to the latest report on invoice payments by Good Business Pays, a think tank, released in March.