Heineken sales climb on Europe rebound and price increases

Heineken NV, the world’s second-largest brewer, delivered first-quarter beer sales ahead of expectations as people returned to pubs, bars and restaurants across Europe.

• Beer volumes rose 5.2% on an organic basis. Analysts expected them to increase 4.6%.

Key insights

• Chief Executive Officer Dolf van den Brink warned of “more macro-economic uncertainty” and “significant additional inflationary headwinds” in the months ahead and indicated the company may raise prices further.
• Heineken’s outlook sets a bullish tone for rivals Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Carlsberg, which report results in coming weeks.
• Heineken has previously said it expects an impairment of 400 million euros ($430 million) due to its retreat from Russia amid the war in Ukraine. Carlsberg, the largest brewer in Russia’s $16 billion market, has also pledged to exit the country.

Market performance

• The stock has lost almost 10% so far this year.