It was a day of reckoning for alcohol and soft drinks producers. On 8 March 2017 the UK government said in its Spring Budget that the traditional “sin taxes” on booze and cigarettes would not rise, but a new one is being introduced in the form of the sugar tax.

Good tidings that Heineken’s newly launched craft beers will live up to expectations. The world’s number two brewer in March 2017 introduced a Bavarian-style Pilsner and American-style IPA to the market under its Maltsmiths Brewery label.

These days about 7,000 people with a personal wealth of over CHF 30 million (USD 30 million) each call Switzerland home, media reported on 7 March 2017. That’s an increase of more than five percent over 2015.

AB-InBev has had a poor fourth quarter 2016. The world’s number one brewer missed analysts’ forecasts for sales, underlying profits and organic volume. In the fourth quarter, volumes dropped 3.3 percent, revenue was flat, while EBITDA declined 3.6 percent compared with the fourth quarter 2015. This was reported on 2 March 2017.

Perhaps Munich’s craft beer lovers felt the seven-year itch one year earlier than usual. Or why did visitors of Braukunst live 2017, the annual craft beer festival that was held in Munich for the sixth time from 10 to 12 February, get the impresson that there was less of a throng than in previous years? Still, there were about 100 exhibitors and reportedly 9,000 visitors (the same number as in 2016).

Were investors Lemann and Buffett only testing the water? On 17 February 2017, their giant company Kraft Heinz made a surprise USD 143 billion bid for rival Unilever, only to revoke it a few days later.

Sales of beer declined slightly in 2016, prompting renewed calls from the industry for a one penny cut in beer duty in the Budget on 8 March 2017. The drop still means that 78 million fewer pints of beer were sold in 2016 compared with the previous year, according to figures released by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), an industry body.

Heineken’s acquisition of almost 2,000 pubs from British chain Punch Taverns is to be investigated by the UK’s competition watchdog, it was reported on 16 February 2017.

Dutch brewer Heineken on 14 February 2017 reported a rise in full-year operating earnings and revenue and said it will continue to improve profit margins this year, despite volatile markets and unfavourable currency movements.

Why did Carlsberg decide to sell its stake in United Romanian Breweries Bereprod (URBB) to its Israeli partner Central Bottling Company (CBC)? According to URBB’s CEO Shachar Shaine, URBB’s turnover in 2017 is to exceed EUR 120 million amid rising exports and local sales. URBB’s sales were nearly 335 million lei (EUR 74.6 million) in 2015. In 2016, URBB’s businesses reportedly increased by around 14 percent in turnover, while profit rose 40 percent.