Heineken sees growth regions offsetting weakness in Europe
HEINEKEN, the world’s third-largest brewer, beat expectations for 2012 profit yesterday and said Africa, Asia and the Americas should drive continued volume and revenue growth, offsetting weak European markets.
The brewer also said that savings should outweigh rising costs.
The brewer of Heineken – Europe’s best-selling lager, and Sol, Strongbow and Tiger, said input prices, including malted barley and packaging, would rise only slightly after rising 8.3 per cent last year.
Heineken said it expected to achieve €525m (£337.7m) of cost savings under its TCM2 programme from 2012-14, with €25m of gains from the acquisition of Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) now added to its initial target. It had reached €196m of savings by the end of December.
Its net profit before one-offs rose 7.1 per cent to €1.70bn, compared with a forecast for €1.65bn.
Like-for-like net profit rose 1.6 per cent – Heineken had forecast 2012 profit would be flat on that basis. After taking full control of Tiger beer maker APB last year, 64 per cent of Heineken’s volume and 59 per cent of its operating profit comes from emerging markets.