Germany | It is turning into a never-ending story. On 27 August 2021, Carlsberg will be dragged to court again over price fixing which occurred between 2006 and 2008.

Germany | All families quarrel. But none more viciously if a business is involved. The five children from the first and second marriage of Rudolf-August Oetker, grandson of the eponymous founder of a custard powder dynasty, and the three offspring from his third have been at each other’s throats for years.

United Kingdom | Drinks group Diageo has beaten expectations for full-year sales as it gears up for the reopening of hospitality venues across Europe. On 29 July 2021 it reported net sales of GBP 12.7 billion (USD 17.5 billion) in the year to the end of June, up 8.3 percent on the previous year, but still slightly below 2019 sales which stood at GBP 12.8 billion.

Belgium | Michel Doukeris, AB-InBev’s new CEO, will be pleased. The brewer drove second-quarter turnover to above pre-pandemic levels and sharply boosted profit as drinkers took advantage of eased restrictions in its major markets.

The Netherlands | Dutch Heineken said on 2 August 2021 that its first-half turnover grew by 14 percent to EUR 12 billion. But it is still trailing more than 10 percent behind the first half of 2019.

The Netherlands | How to knock a low margin business into better shape? During Heineken’s investor call on 2 August 2021, CEO Dolf van den Brink explained the recent transformation of its Brazilian business: one is a portfolio shift, the other is a route to market shift.

Germany | Beer sales dropped 2.7 percent or 1.1 million hl in the first half of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020. As the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on 30 July 2021, German breweries sold around 42 million hl beer in the first half of 2021.

Germany | Warsteiner Brewery reported a 9.1 percent decline in domestic sales in the first half of 2021, compared to the same period in 2020, when the company had already recorded a decline of 16.4 percent. The brewery did not provide any volume figures. However, observers estimate that sales have dropped to below 900,000 hl beer in the first half of 2021. Warsteiner ranked 7th among Germany’s major beer brands in 2020.

Europe | In an ideal world, a marketer knows what her customers want even before they do. Beer marketers think they have got closer to this, thanks to the clever use of data. As they see it, the world contains an unimaginably vast amount of digital information. This makes it possible to do many things that previously could not be done: provide fresh insights, spot business trends, unlock sources of economic value.

Europe | As the light at the end of the tunnel slowly becomes brighter and vaccination programmes progress, restaurants and bars can once again look forward to opening their doors to thirsty patrons. However, we should not forget that breweries and the hospitality industry have suffered greatly during the pandemic, above all brewers’ draught beer sales.