Heineken beer sales surge as brewer posts strong 2019 results

Heineken’s namesake lager brand posted 8.3% volume growth last year, the best in a decade, as the company continued its solid performance in Asia Pacific.

The Dutch brewer saw its revenue increase by 5.6% organically in 2019 to €23.89 billion. Operating profit was €4.02 billion, up 3.9% organically.

Heineken-branded volume growth accelerated in the fourth quarter to 12%. For the year, the brand recorded double-digit growth in more than 40 markets, including Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Nigeria, the UK, Romania and Germany. Brazil is now the largest market for the Heineken brand globally.

The company’s international brand portfolio grew high-single digit, driven by the double-digit growth of Tiger and Amstel. Tiger performed strongly in Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Amstel recoded positive results in Brazil, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and the UK.

In its Asia Pacific division, revenue for the year was up organically by 10.9%, thanks in part to solid beer sales in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, South Korea and Japan.

The results were published a day after Heineken announced that its CEO of 15 years, Jean-François van Boxmeer, will step down in June. He will be replaced by Dolf van den Brink, head of the company’s Asia Pacific region.

Van Boxmeer drew attention to the company’s strategy of delivering sustainable growth: “Over the past decade, we have lowered our water usage by almost a third to 3.4 hectolitres of water per hectolitre produced, ahead of our 2020 target.

“We increased the proportion of renewable energy in production to 19%. In more than 60 markets, we spent over 10% of Heineken media budgets on responsible consumption awareness campaigns.

“We closed the year with an operating profit (beia) organic growth of 3.9%. In a context of increased input costs, we have continued to work on the efficiency of our operations whilst steadily investing behind our brands, our sustainability agenda and our digital transformation.”

For 2020, the company expect operating profit to grow by mid-single digit on an organic basis.