Pricing offsets costs for Heineken as 2023 sales stay firm - results data

Three months to end of December at +4.7% in sales – EUR7.78bn (US$8.36bn)
Full-year sales rise 5.5% to EUR30.31bn
12-month volumes decline 4.7% with brand Heineken at +2.5%

The closing three months of the year brought in a 4.7% top-line increase, level with Q3’s +4.5% showing. Subsequently, the full year finished up 5.5% with the group breaking the EUR30bn sales barrier for the first time.

‘Asia Pacific’ proved to be a blot on the quarterly copybook, with sales dropping by 8.6%. In its 12-month commentary, the brewer flagged the impact of the wider economic slowdown on Vietnam, where “the stricter enforcement of the zero tolerance whilst driving regulations” also pulled its sales down.

The other three reporting regions were all up in Q4, led by ‘Africa, Middle East & Eastern Europe’, which leapt by almost 17%.

The issues in ‘Asia Pacific’ also hit the region’s 12-month numbers with, again, the company’s other three reporting regions delivering increases. Heineken emphasised the former’s “significant growth potential from a growing middle class and urbanisation” while admitting to having faced “short-term growth challenges”.

While ‘Europe’ was up 6.3% sales-wise in 2023, declining volumes (-5.5%) in Heineken’s heartland symbolised the “declining consumer confidence” in the region, although “next generation brands” such as Texels, Gallia, Birra Moretti and El Aguila all earned an upbeat namecheck. Over in ‘Americas’, which is challenging to become Heineken’s biggest market, the alcohol-free beer portfolio shone in Mexico while beer premiumisation continues to drive successes for the company in Brazil. The US, however, was down by mid single digits for sales due to inventory build-ups at the wholesaler level.

Heineken used today’s results announcement to promote its ‘Global Data Lake’, which sits on its Cloud platform. The data bank “is used for a wide range of AI-products that drive value … , from revenue management to predictive maintenance”, the group noted, citing an AI-powered product recommender for consumers in France and an AI application in Mexico that “predicts customer churn, identifies price discrepancies and suggests optimal sales-routes”.

“After a strong 2022, 2023 proved to be challenging,” said CEO Dolf van den Brink. “Strong pricing to offset very high input and energy cost inflation and volatile macro-economic conditions in some key markets affected our volume momentum.

“The Heineken brand celebrated its 150 year anniversary and delivered another year of volume growth, up 3.4% excluding Russia. We also further evolved our portfolio footprint with the acquisition of Distell and Namibia Breweries to form Heineken Beverages … for Southern Africa, and the exit from Russia in the third quarter.”