Heineken grows "low single digits" in Brazil

The volume of beer sold by Heineken grew "low single digit" (up 5%), but overcame the market average in Brazil in 2012, said yesterday the company.
In the first nine months of 2012, the volume sold by Ambev, the largest brewer in the country, grew 2.9% on 2011. Ambev discloses its annual balance of 2012 on February 27.
The Heineken label was the main highlight of the Dutch manufacturer of beverages in Brazil in 2012: the volume sold was 40% higher in 2012 than in the previous year. This growth allowed the company to gain market share in the segment of premium imported beer. The overall volume of the Heineken label grew 5.3%. Already the Brazilian brands Kaiser and Bavaria had performance in line with 2011, in volume sold.
Heineken does not disclose results by country, but by region. In the Americas, revenues advanced 12% (8.2% in organic bases), for € 4.5 billion. "The profit grew substantially in Mexico and was also higher in Brazil and in the Caribbean and Canada," says the company. The result was driven by increase in volume, prices and mix in Brazil and in Mexico.
In the world, the brewery's net revenue advanced 7.4% year to date, to € 18,38 billion. The volume of beer sold grew 3.4 percent to 221.2 million hectolitres-every hectolitre is equivalent to one hundred litres-, with the amount of premium brands being 6.2% higher, at 29.1 million hectolitres.
Heineken's net profit more than doubled in 2012, to €2,95 billion. This gain was influenced by a gain of € 1,5 billion registered in the valorization of the slice that the Group owns in Asia Pacific Breweries and Asia Pacific Investment. The operating profit was €3,9 billion, high of 59%.
The Group's net debt amounted to €12,31 billion, an increase of 47.4%. This advance was caused, primarily, by the resources raised for the acquisition of Asia Pacific. "The acquisition of full control of Asia Pacific Breweries significantly expanded our showroom in growth markets and expanded our business platform in Asia, along with Africa and Latin America, continued to show a good performance in 2012," said the Chairman of the Board and CEO of Heineken, Jean-François van Boxmeer.
Heineken plans to invest about € 1,5 billion in capital goods this year, more than the €1,2 billion invested last year. The Group announced increase of € 25 million in savings by 2014, compared with the previous programme, € 500 million.