Amsterdam (AFP) – Dutch brewer Heineken Wednesday reported a steep drop in beer sales in the third quarter, driven by a sharp decline in the United States and Europe and a “challenging” economy. The Amsterdam-based firm, the world’s second-largest brewer after AB InBev, predicted its profits for the year would likely come towards the bottom end of its forecasts given the difficult conditions.
Heineken said it sold 59.0 million hectolitres of beer worldwide in the third quarter. This was down on the 62.3 million sold in the second quarter, and also lower than the 61.9 million in the third quarter of last year. Analysts surveyed by the company had expected total global beer volumes of 59.2 million hectolitres.
“Macroeconomic volatility persisted as anticipated and became more pronounced in the third quarter, creating a challenging environment, resulting in a mixed performance,” said Heineken Chief Executive Officer Dolf van den Brink in a statement. Heineken said total net sales were 7.3 billion euros ($8.5 billion) in the third quarter, compared to 7.6 billion in the second quarter and broadly in line with expectations. The firm said this represented an “organic loss” — stripping out the impact of currency fluctuations — of 0.3 percent.
Earlier this month, Heineken announced it was cutting or reassigning 400 jobs as part of a major reorganisation of its Amsterdam head office to take advantage of new technologies. The brewer maintained its forecast for full-year operating profit between four to eight percent, but said it would be “towards the lower end” of that guidance.
“We anticipate ongoing macroeconomic volatility that may impact our consumers, including weak sentiment, global inflationary pressures, and currency devaluations in relation to a stronger euro,” said the firm. “Given the challenging quarter just behind us, and based on our current assessment of short-term consumer demand, we expect volume to decline modestly for the year 2025.”
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