Heineken’s nine months profit rise 4% amid a mixed bag of highs and lows

Heineken bottle and glass filled with beer

Heineken NV said in its nine months results that it is seeing increased volatility across a number of its markets despite seeing profits rise by 4.45% to €1.67bn. The higher earnings were driven by beer volume growth of 2.3%, with brand Heineken® surging 7.4%.

The company said that it benefited from the double-digit growth of its brand Heineken in countries such as Brazil, South Africa, the UK, Nigeria, Romania and Germany.

Looking at the company’s performance by region, its Africa, Middle East and Easter Europe region saw 1.6% beer volume growth.

In Nigeria, beer volume grew by low-single-digit with the premium portfolio growing double-digit, driven by brand Heineken®.

South Africa saw high-single-digit volume growth driven by Heineken®.

Beer volume in Ethiopia was flat due to a price increase at the beginning of the year and continued social unrest.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) recorded high-single digit volume growth despite the economy remaining fragile.

Egypt saw double-digit volume growth, driven by the non-alcoholic beverage portfolio.

Elsewhere, beer volumes in the Americas declined by 0.5% organically, driven by slight decline in Brazil, high-single-digit decline in the USA and a double-digit decline in Haiti, the company’s largest market in the Caribbean as social unrests since the middle of September caused business interruption.

The Asian market was a stand-out for the brewer with 13.9% beer volume growth, driven by double-digit growth in Vietnam and high double-digit growth in Cambodia.

Indonesia didn’t perform as well, declining mid-single digits due to the phasing of deliveries.

In Europe, beer volume grew by 1.6% with good performances in the UK, France and Italy.

While commenting on the results, Jean-François van Boxmeer, CEO of Heineken, said: “During the third quarter, our beer portfolio delivered solid volume growth of 2.3% in the context of a challenging comparison base given a very good summer last year.

“The growth of Heineken® accelerated to 7.4%. We are seeing increased volatility across a number of our markets, which we assume to continue for the rest of the year.

Looking forward to the rest of the year, the company said it expects operating profit growth of around 4% organically.

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