Heineken is set to raise its beer prices further as it continues to witness soaring production costs. This news was made public on Wednesday while the Dutch brewer released its results for the first quarter.
“…We see more macro-economic uncertainty and expect significant additional inflationary headwinds putting further pressure on our cost base. We will take additional actions including pricing to manage these challenges ...,” Dolf van den Brink, Chairman of the Executive Board & CEO Heineken said.
Sales and profits for the first quarter improved considerably due to loosening of coronavirus restrictions, particularly in Europe. Even the war in Ukraine and the announced retreat from Russia did not harm the overall positive performance.
Revenue for the first quarter of 2022 was EUR 6,989 million (2021: EUR 5,145 million). Net revenue (beia) was EUR 5,753 million and increased by 24.9% organically, with total consolidated volume growing by 5.7% and net revenue (beia) per hectoliter up 18.3%. The latter was driven by assertive pricing and premiumization across all regions, as well as a positive channel mix effect, particularly in Europe.
The consolidation of United Breweries Limited (UBL) in India positively impacted net revenue (beia) by EUR 200 million or 4.6%.
Beer volume grew 5.2% organically versus last year and came 2.8% ahead of 2019 on an organic basis.
All regions contributed to the growth, especially Europe, given the low base last year due to the COVID-related restrictions in the on-trade. Asia Pacific returned to growth following the lockdown in the second part of last year. The Americas region recorded modest growth whilst Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe continued its positive momentum.
Mr. van den Brink said: “We had a solid start to the year, in line with our expectations, especially benefitting from strong channel mix from the partial on-trade recovery of Europe and assertive pricing across all regions. We continue to make progress on EverGreen and launched Heineken Silver in Europe to drive premiumization at scale.”
