The brewer Heineken has shown decreases in its volumes in South Africa and Nigeria in its third-quarter report along with its forecasts for 2024.
According to The Times, the company reported that despite demand slowing in many areas as inflation hits, it made more money in the third quarter of the year as a result of increased prices.
The CEO, Dolf van den Brink, said in a statement that the company’s output for Africa, the Middle East, and Europe was impacted by drops in volume from South Africa and Nigeria.
In his statement, the CEO said, “We saw a return to volume growth in the Americas, led by impressive results in Brazil and Mexico. Asia Pacific steadily improved despite Vietnam’s continued problems. Nigeria and South Africa’s volume losses had an impact on the region of Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.”
The company said that low single-digit growth in net revenue was caused by currency devaluation and inflation. Maltina without alcohol continued to lead the market during the third quarter.
In Nigeria, net revenue (beia) increased naturally by a low single digit, primarily due to pricing adjustments made to somewhat offset notable inflation and currency devaluation. In the 1920s, overall volume fell behind the market.
“The impact of structural economic reforms and inflation continued to put significant pressure on consumers’ spending power, which disproportionately affected our premium portfolio.
“The top non-alcoholic malt offering, Maltina, continued to perform noticeably better than the market and widely held volume despite these difficult circumstances.”
According to Heineken, beer volumes fell 4.2% on a like-for-like basis from July to September, with drops observed everywhere but the Americas.
Nonetheless, the business increased net revenue before one-time items by 4.5%.
These figures were in line with market forecasts, as analysts polled by the company predicted a 4.8% increase in revenue and a 4.3% decline in volumes.
Heineken restated its earlier estimate for 2023, predicting that operating profit growth would range from zero to a mid-single-digit percentage increase.
Despite a drop in volume globally, the company’s revenue increased by 4.5% to €9.6 billion for the quarter.
It also mentioned that revenues were negatively impacted by currency devaluation in African nations by €397 million, but part of the losses were offset by a strong peso in Mexico.
According to the statement, “A stronger Mexican Peso helped offset some of the €397 million (YTD: €488 million) revenue impact caused by currency translation, which was primarily caused by the devaluation of African currencies.
” The integration of Distell and Namibian Breweries was the primary source of the €276 million (YTD: €507 million) contribution from consolidation effects.”
