Heineken beer sales rise but uncertain days ahead

Heineken has stated on Wednesday, April 24 that its beer sales have increased but saw a "challenging and uncertain" economic outlook and are not sure sales will continue to grow at this rate for the remaining 2024.

All around the world, Heineken's sales rose by 4.7 percent in the first quarter of the year compared to the same period in 2023, with a staggering 9.4% growth recorded in the Asia-Pacific alone.

Heineken's Chief Executive, Dolf van den Brink predicted an "encouraging" start to 2024, which was boosted by an early Easter holiday.

He said: "We continue to see the economic environment as challenging and uncertain, and will remain agile and focused."

Despite what the firm described as a "solid" start to 2024, it cautioned, "we cannot extrapolate the reported top-line growth to the rest of the year."

Generally, beer sales in 2023 dipped by 4.7 percent, with 60 percent of that decline driven by sharp falls in Nigeria and Vietnam, according to the firm.

It said its business last year had been impacted by "unprecedented levels of commodity and energy inflation" and expected the economic environment would remain "a factor of uncertainty" this year as well.

BEB