Heineken reported Wednesday that profits grew in the first half of the year, as the world's second-largest brewer pursues a restructuring plan that includes the arrival of a new chief executive in October.
Net profit rose 10.2 percent on like-for-like comparisons that strip out the impacts of acquisitions or sales, to €1.26 billion (£1.08bn).
Overall sales by volume, including beer as well as ciders and other drinks, were up 1.6 per cent in the first half, “with growth in Asia-Pacific and Africa and the Middle East more than offsetting a decline in the Americas”, the company said.
It was an acceleration after a slowdown seen in the first quarter alone, announced a few months after the surprise departure of CEO Dolf van den Brink in January.
Heineken said in June that he would be replaced by Rafael Oliveira, a Brazilian who was formerly with the coffee giant JDE Peet's. Oliveira is set to take over leadership of the Dutch beer maker from 1 October, subject to shareholder approval at an extraordinary general meeting taking place today (5 August).
It has also embarked on job cuts as part of efforts to bolster sales and profitability, with up to 6,000 posts of its roughly 85,000 jobs to be shed over the next two years.
“This really is an enterprise-wide effort... So there is not a specific regional contribution that we're displaying,” chief financial officer Harold van den Broek said during a conference call with journalists.
The brewer reiterated its forecast for full-year operating profit growth of 2 to 6 per cent, after a 6.7 per cent rise in the first half.
“We are confident in our strategy and progress, yet remain prudent given ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty,” van den Broek said.
(AFP)