Stronger-than-expected volume growth for Heineken

Dutch brewer Heineken saw its first quarter volume growth reach 11 %, significantly better than analysts’ expectations of at a mere 2.4 %.

Profit drop

Heineken’s autonomous growth, which excludes acquisitions, sales or exchange rate fluctuations, reached 7 %. Volume grew 23 % in the Asia Pacific region, while America grew 8.2 % and Europe 2.3 %. There was no growth in the Netherlands, which Heineken blamed on the fact that it did not do as many supermarket price stunts in the Netherlands. Premium beers performed well for Heineken, with a 4.8 % autonomous growth spread across nearly every market. Only Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe failed to produce more premium beer.

Despite the positive results, the company’s profit dropped 54 %, from 579 to 265 million euro, but that comparison is flawed as Heineken made a 379 million euro profit last year thanks to its Empaque sale.

Heineken is currently the world’s third largest brewer, but will soon jump to second place as AB InBev and SABMiller will merge and become the only company ahead of Heineken, whereas they previously took up spots 1 and 2.