Heineken, the international brewer, has reported a 4.5% rise in organic revenue to Euro8.778bn in the first half of 2012 on the back of a 3.3% rise in group beer volume, although profits were hit by difficult trading conditions across Europe and higher input costs.
Revenues in Western Europe increased slightly, Heineken said, despite experiencing a "challenging economic environment and unfavourable weather". Central & Eastern Europe reported "solid organic top-line growth", while Africa & the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Americas regions "all delivered an excellent top- and bottom-line performance".
"The solid growth of the Americas region is particularly noteworthy as it reflects the success of our strategic initiatives in the important USA and Mexican beer markets," said chairman Jean-François van Boxmeer.
Overall, net profit increased 1.6%, but fell 4% on an organic basis to Euro705m. Reported net profit grew 30% to Euro783m, including a post-tax book gain of Euro131m for the sale of a minority stake in a brewery in the Dominican Republic.
EBIT grew 0.5%, "reflecting a positive contribution from acquisitions and a favourable currency impact." On an organic basis, EBIT fell 5.5%, "primarily due to planned capability building investments and higher input costs".
Van Boxmeer said: "Our focus on delivering top-line growth continues to be successful with revenue increases across all regions and market share gains in several of our key markets. The Heineken brand again performed strongly in the international premium segment with organic volume growth of 6%.
"Our Global Business Services (GBS) organisation and other efficiency initiatives have enabled us to generate Euro85 million in savings under our Total Cost Management programme. Despite this benefit, our profitability in the first half of the year was impacted by difficult trading conditions across Europe as well as higher input costs and planned capability investments.
"In the second half, we expect continued top-line momentum to benefit from ongoing high-impact brand marketing as well as capital investments in higher growth markets. Full year net profit (beia) is expected to be broadly in line with last year, on an organic basis.”
Last week Heineken agreed to buy Fraser and Neave's controlling stake in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), the maker of Tiger beer, in a deal worth 5.6bn Singapore dollars (US$4.5bn, £2.8bn).
Van Boxmeer said it "marks an important and exciting milestone in our acquisition of APB".
"The business of APB provides direct access to two of the world’s most exciting growth regions for beer – Southeast Asia & the Pacific Islands, and China. We are working towards a swift completion of the transaction and are looking forward to ongoing growth and success in the region, led by the Heineken and Tiger brands."
