Drinks giant Heineken saw an organic rise in beer volumes of 0.5% in Europe and 5.4% in Asia Pacific in the first quarter of the year, the company has announced.
However, performance was offset slightly by declines in Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe (-0.4%) and the Americas (-0.7%). Overall, organic beer volume growth at the brewer was +0.6% for the period.
Strong Performance
"Performance in the first quarter was in line with expectations, delivering volume growth against strong comparatives last year," commented Jean-François van Boxmeer, Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO.
"Asia Pacific continued to outperform and volume in Europe was solid. In Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe market conditions remain challenging, adversely impacting volume. In Americas, whilst Mexican volume was good this was more than offset by weaker volume in Brazil."
van Boxmeer added that the group's "full year expectations remain unchanged".
The company said that it saw positive volume development in France, Spain, Netherlands, Italy, and Austria for the period, however in the UK, volume was down by low single digit figures 'due to a partial de-listing by a large customer. Premium volumes continued to grow double digit'.
Reported net profit for the quarter was €293 million (2016:€265 million).
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
