Heineken’s effort to expand in Brazil, where AB-InBev is the market leader, has put pressure on its margins during the first half of 2018, it was reported on 30 July 2018. Heineken said its beer volumes increased 4.5 percent from January to June, with Europe the only region to see a decline, though the amount it was earning per hl fell 8.2 percent.

In an effort to grow sales and cut costs, AB-InBev announced that it has streamlined its global management structure. Instead of being split into nine geographical zones, the brewer is to shift to only six, the company said on 26 July 2018. What is more, the restructuring will also combine ZX Ventures, a separate unit established in 2015 to buy craft breweries and create products for evolving consumer demands, with its marketing branch. ZX Ventures is said to remain independent, though.

According to the latest annual Barth report, which was released on 30 July 2018, global beer output in 2017 rose by only 1.2 million hl and has stagnated at just below two billion hl since 2012.

Is there a reason why Co.Br.Ha, under which the Haacht brewery is listed, has seen its share price skyrocket in merely one week? During the last week in June 2018 it picked up over EUR 300 per share to reach EUR 4,820 (USD 5,630), thus continuing its rally that began in December 2017 when the share price was only EUR 3,700.

What’s different this time? When Heineken bought into London’s Brixton brewery last year, the usually vocal commentariat kept quiet. After London’s craft brewer Beavertown announced the sale of a minority stake to Heineken on 21 June 2018, all hell broke loose. Well, not quite. But many breweries and fans took to the internet to voice their disappointment. In fact, hours after the deal was announced, Manchester’s craft brewer Cloudwater wrote on Twitter that it will not be attending the annual Beavertown Extravaganza event to be held on 7 and 8 September 2018 in London.

The financial investor CK Corporate Finance was to take over two regional breweries – Diebels and Hasseröder – from AB-InBev. The sale was announced in January 2018 and was to be completed by June. However, as was announced on 2 July 2018, the one-man outfit from Kronberg near Frankfurt has been unable to fulfil his contractual obligations. Read: the investor Daniel Deistler probably could not cough up the money, estimated at less than EUR 200 million for the two breweries, whose combined beer output is around two million hl.

Ending weeks of speculation, the craft brewer Beavertown, founded by Logan Plant, the son of Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant, announced on 21 June 2018 that Heineken has acquired a minority stake.

Is this political activism? The pub chain JD Wetherspoon, known for its affordable drinks selection, is to sell more drinks from the UK and non-EU producers. In particular, it will replace French champagne and German beers in the run-up to Brexit. The switch will affect all 880 Wetherspoon pubs from 9 July 2018.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has predicted that England fans will drink 14 million extra pints (80,000 hl) at the pub during the World Cup group stages.

The Dutch brewing group Bavaria has changed its name to Swinkels Family Brewers to better reflect its product range, the family-owned firm said. “We are more than Bavaria”, Chairman Jan-Renier Swinkels said. Next year Swinkels will celebrate its 300th anniversary.