The brewing giant’s UK arm also saw growth, fuelled by the popularity of Birra Moretti and a boost in its ‘premium’ brand portfolio
Heineken has raised a glass to an increase in beer sales, thanks to a rise in demand for its products in supermarkets.
The brewing giant’s UK arm also saw growth, fuelled by the popularity of Birra Moretti and a boost in its “premium” brand portfolio. The Dutch-headquartered firm announced that group revenues swelled by 7.2% to 8.18 billion euros (£7billion) for the first quarter of 2024.
Organic beer volumes rose by 4.7%, with premium beers leading the charge with 7.3% growth. Star performer Heineken branded beverages contributed to this uptick, pouring out a global volume increase of 12.9%.
In Europe, net revenues were 0.4%, up as consumers showed a taste for more expensive beers. The off-trade sector, encompassing supermarkets and other retail outlets, was the main driver of higher volumes, helping to compensate for softer sales in on-trade venues like restaurants, pubs, and bars.
Dolf van den Brink, chief executive and chairman at Heineken, hailed the results as an “encouraging start to 2024”. He said: “All regions grew volume and net revenue, and we continued to see a sequential improvement in the performance of the business, growing in line or ahead of the category in the majority of our markets.”
He credited the quarter’s success to an early Easter and the rebound from negative one-off impacts from the previous year. He added: “Top-line delivery was well-balanced between volume and value as more markets returned to volume growth and our underlying premiumisation trends remained strong.”
Equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Aarin Chiekrie, said: “Heineken’s first-quarter results finally gave the group something to raise a glass to. Total beer volumes were much better than the market expected, meaning that growth on the top line came from a much healthier mix of both price and volume this quarter.”
“Despite the solid start to 2024, full-year guidance remains unchanged with underlying operating profit expected to grow at a low-to-high single-digit rate.”
