Heineken sales flat following increases in Africa and Asia
The world’s second largest brewer Heineken reported stable beer sales in the first three months of the year after a strong performance in Africa and Asia.
Net profit for the first three months of the year was €168m, up from €94m a year earlier.
Beer volume in the first quarter was in line with last year and 2.1 per cent below the same period in 2019. It came after strong growth in the Asia Pacific and Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe regions which helped to offset a sharp decline in Europe.
Sales grew 9.9 per cent in Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe with a particularly strong showing in Nigeria and South Africa, despite alcohol bans for some weeks in the latter.
Vietnam pushed beer sales in the Asia Pacific region higher, which increased organically by 5.4 per cent.
In Europe it was another story. Beer sales plunged 9.7 per cent across the continent driven by a decline of around two thirds in pub sales given lockdown restrictions.
UK on-trade sales crashed around 30 per cent although off-trade grew ahead of the market driven by Heineken, Strongbow and Birra Moretti.
“We had a solid start to the year, despite facing severe restrictions across many markets and the closure of the on-trade in Europe due to the pandemic,” said chief executive Dolf van den Brink. “Overall beer volume was in line with last year, with strong growth in Africa, Middle East and Eastern Europe and Asia Pacific and modest growth in the Americas.”
As countries start to emerge from severe lockdowns Heineken was retained its forecast that markets would gradually improve in the second half of the year, depending on the vaccine rollout.