Heineken Austria hikes prices twice in 2024

Austria | A looming fine by the cartel court, redundancies, outsourcing, and now the second price hike in a year: you cannot say that it is smooth sailing for Heineken’s Austrian subsidiary and beer market leader, Brau Union.

Heineken buys stake in Gillian Anderson’s G Spot drinks

United Kingdom | Heineken is pushing further into the Beyond Beer space. In early November it was reported that the Dutch brewer has acquired a minority stake in the UK-based functional drinks brand G Spot.

Germany | An organised, well-funded, international opposition to the alcohol industry is having no trouble getting its message across in German media too. The liberal national newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, headlined on 3 November that drinking alcohol is a risk and it is best not to drink at all, accompanied by a photo of several glasses of beer.

Sin tax revenues decline as governments need to stuff budget holes

United Kingdom | For years, the trio of sin taxes – alcohol, cigarettes and fuel – have bolstered state budgets. At the same time, governments were fighting sin. As they all knew: sin taxes lead to lower consumption as people change their behaviour. Now that there is a shortage of sinners, governments need them. How ironic.

London’s Gipsy Hill Brewery sold to Sunrise Alliance Beverages

United Kingdom | Sunrise Alliance Beverages, a group backed by several former SABMiller people, is emerging as another roll-up of distressed UK craft breweries. On 30 October, Sunrise acquired Gipsy Hill to prevent the south London brewer from falling into administration.

SIBA launches “Indie Beer” mark amid craft beer confusion

United Kingdom | Surveys show that many consumers are unaware that previously standalone breweries are now owned by the Big Brewers. In an effort to put this right, the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) has launched the “Indie Beer” mark on 22 October.

Heineken Ireland ordered to pay EUR 29,000 to sacked employee

Ireland | And we thought only craft breweries were rough and tumble workplaces, where banter and colourful language were the norm between male co-workers. It happened at Heineken too. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ordered the brewer to pay some EUR 29,000 (USD 31,500) to a sacked employee. It argued that Heineken’s local HR team ignored the rough masculine work culture at its brewery when it concluded that the employee had engaged in the bullying and harassment of two colleagues – which he denied.

Carlsberg maintains profit forecast despite lower volumes in third quarter

Denmark | Danish brewer Carlsberg slightly missed analysts’ forecasts when it reported third quarter 2024 results on 31 October. Carlsberg reported that volumes fell in the third quarter, as poor summer weather across Europe and a consumer downturn in China hurt beer sales. Organic volumes fell 0.2 percent, whereas analysts had estimated the company to grow volumes during the quarter.

The Netherlands | The Amsterdam District Court, in a milestone ruling on 24 October, has cleared the way for Macedonian Thrace Brewery (MTB) to press home its claim against Heineken NV for more than EUR 160 million (USD 170 million) in damages.

Anadolu Efes names new terms for Russian assets deal with AB-InBev

Russia | Will the new agreement pass muster with the Russian authorities? After they threw out Anadolu Efes’ proposed deal with AB-InBev regarding their Russian assets in June, the Turkish brewer has drafted new terms with AB-InBev, the Russian news agency Interfax reported on 23 October.