The Netherlands | In its long-running legal spat with Heineken, Macedonian Thrace Brewery (MTB), best known for its Vergina beer, scored a victory: The Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled on 16 February 2021 that MTB can pursue Heineken for damages in relation to anti-competitive practices and market abuse by its Greek subsidiary.

Belgium | AB-InBev took a hit to revenue and volume sales in 2020, but expects a better outcome this year. The world’s major brewer, on 26 February 2021, reported a smaller hit to 2020 sales than expected and said it will see “meaningfully” better numbers this year as the pandemic begins to recede.

Belgium | What a shock: With bars and cafés being shut for almost six months in 2020, on-premise sales of beer fell 50 percent.

The Netherlands | The pandemic even brought Heineken to its knees. The world’s number two brewer reported a net loss of EUR 204 million (USD 248 million) for 2020, compared with a net profit of EUR 2.2 billion in 2019. Global beer sales dropped 8 percent organically to 222 million hl, the firm said on 10 February 2021.

Germany | The country’s 1500 breweries sold 87 million hl beer in 2020 – a decline of 5.5 percent over 2019, the Federal Statistical Office reported on 1 February 2021.

United Kingdom | The UK has now been out of the EU for an entire month. One scenario – miles-long queues at the Channel Tunnel and the port of Dover – has not materialised, but the ripple effects of Brexit have touched many consumers and businesses in the UK.

Denmark | Carlsberg’s 2020 results were affected by the significant impact of the pandemic on the beer market in general, and the on-trade in particular. Volumes sales declined 3.6 percent to 130 million hl, of which 20 million hl were non-beer, the firm said on 5 February 2021.

United Kingdom | The world’s major drinks company, Diageo, reported net sales of GBP 6.9 billion (USD 9.4 billion) in the six months to 31 December 2020, down 4.5 percent over the same period in 2019. According to Diageo, organic growth of 1 percent during the first half was offset by “unfavourable exchange rates”.

Europe | As coronavirus cases spiral and highly contagious variants spread, European governments have prolonged lockdown measures.

United Kingdom | Pubs could be shut for months to come, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposed a third national shutdown on 6 January 2021.