Dutch brewer Heineken has reported a solid third quarter performance despite a decline in Europe, leaving the company's outlook for the full year's net profit "broadly in line with last year, on an organic basis."
Reported net profits saw a 9.9 per cent boost to €577 million, up from €525 million for the comparable period last year. Revenue grew 7.1 per cent to €4,974 million, and 4 per cent on an organic basis. This reflects total consolidated volume growth of 1.5 per cent and revenue per hectolitre growth of 2.5 per cent which the company said was underpinned by pricing initiatives and an improved sales mix.
Group beer volume grew 2.6 per cent on an organic basis, with growth in four out of the company's five regions.
Western Europe continued to display the impact of the economic crisis with group beer volume down 2.1 per cent organically in the quarter. While volume in France and Italy grew slightly, remaining in the low-single digits, Portugal, the UK, Netherlands and Spain all showed decline. Heineken attributed this to "cautious consumer spending in the on-premise channel".
Central & Eastern Europe posted an increase in group beer volume of 3.6 per cent, on an organic basis. Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Russia and Serbia all showed "solid volume gains". Unsurprisingly, the Greek market showed decline.
In Africa & the Middle East, group beer volume grew 3.5 per cent and the company continued to gain market share in South Africa.
Organic beer volume growth was 4.4 per cent in the Americas, driven by higher volume in Mexico, Brazil and the USA.
In Asia Pacific, group beer volume increased 4.8 per cent organically. The recent acquisiton of Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) will no doubt boost the brewer's presence in the region. (25 Oct)
© 2012 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine
