Heineken N.V. reports on 2024 first-quarter trading

Amsterdam, 24 April 2024 – Heineken N.V. (EURONEXT: HEIA; OTCQX: HEINY) publishes its trading update for the first quarter of 2024.

• Revenue €8,184 million, up 7.2%
• Net revenue (beia) organic growth 9.4%; per hectolitre 4.9%
• Beer volume organic growth 4.7%
• Premium beer volume organic growth 7.3%
• Heineken^® volume growth 12.9%
• Gross merchandise value captured via eB2B platforms +17%
• Outlook for the full year unchanged; operating profit (beia) expected to grow organically low- to high-single-digit.
  
  

Dolf van den Brink, Chairman of the Executive Board / CEO, commented:

"As we maintained focus on our EverGreen priorities, we had an encouraging start to 2024. All regions grew volume and net revenue, and we continued to see a sequential improvement in the performance of the business, growing in line or ahead of the category in the majority of our markets. This quarter was boosted by an earlier Easter and cycling negative one-off effects from last year. Top-line delivery was well-balanced between volume and value as more markets returned to volume growth and our underlying premiumisation trends remained strong.

Heineken^® accelerated its growth to 12.9% in volume globally and became the #1 brand by value in Brazil. Our Low & No-Alcohol (LONO) portfolio grew volume in the mid-teens, led by the strong growth of Heineken^® 0.0, further strengthening our global leadership position in the segment. Our eB2B platforms captured €2.7 billion in gross merchandise value this quarter, 17% more than last year. Continuing our journey to net zero, we opened a large scale solar thermal plant in Spain featuring cutting-edge technology.

We continue to see the economic environment as challenging and uncertain, and will remain agile and focused. We will continue to invest behind our brands, innovations, commercial capabilities and route-to-consumer. Our full year expectations remain unchanged."

Throughout this report figures refer to quarterly performance unless otherwise indicated.

Revenue in the first quarter was €8.2 billion, up 7.2%. Net revenue (beia) was €6.8 billion, up 9.4% organically. Total consolidated volume increased 4.3% and net revenue (beia) per hectolitre was up 4.9%. Price mix on a constant geographic basis increased by 6.0%, mainly driven by pricing and in line with inflation.

Currency translation reduced net revenue (beia) by €294 million or 4.6%, mainly driven by the devaluation of currencies in Africa, particularly the Nigerian Naira, and partially offset by a stronger Mexican Peso and Brazilian Real. Consolidation changes in net revenue (beia) contributed €164 million, driven by the integration of Distell and Namibia Breweries and partially offset by the sale of Vrumona in the Netherlands and our exit from Russia.

1. Consolidated figures are used throughout this report, unless otherwise stated. Please refer to the Glossary for an explanation of non-GAAP measures and other terms. Page 5 includes a reconciliation versus IFRS metrics. These non-GAAP measures are included in internal management reports that are reviewed by the Executive Board of HEINEKEN, as management believes that this measurement is the most relevant in evaluating the results and in performance management.

Beer volume increased 4.7% organically with growth in all regions, a sequential improvement in the performance of the business, boosted by calendar and one-off effects. In particular, the Americas and Europe regions benefitted from the earlier timing of Easter and the Africa & Middle East and Asia Pacific regions from a soft comparable base last year due to one-off effects in Vietnam and Nigeria.

Driving premiumisation at scale, led by Heineken^®

Premium beer volume grew by 7.3%, outperforming the total beer portfolio. The strong momentum in premiumisation was led by Heineken^® and its line extensions, complemented by our international and local premium brands, including Tiger, Desperados, Birra Moretti and Kingfisher Ultra.

Heineken^® grew volume by 12.9%, with double-digit growth in more than 30 markets. Heineken^® 0.0 grew volume in the high-teens, with double-digit growth in all regions, led by Brazil, Vietnam and China. Heineken^® Silver grew volume by more than 50%, led by Vietnam and China.

Build a future-fit digital route-to-consumer

We continued to expand our business-to-business digital (eB2B) platforms. In the first quarter our platforms captured €2.7 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV), an increase of 17% versus last year, connecting more than 640,000 active customers in fragmented, traditional channels, up 28% compared to last year. We continue to build capabilities to enable better features at scale, resulting in an improved customer experience and better performance, helping customers to grow their business.

We continue to see the economic environment as challenging and uncertain, and will remain agile and focused on strengthening our business in line with our EverGreen strategy. Despite the solid start to the year, we cannot extrapolate the reported top-line growth to the rest of the year. As planned, we will increase our investment behind our brands, innovations, commercial capabilities and route-to-consumer. All in all, we continue to expect operating profit (beia) to grow organically by a low- to high-single-digit and net profit (beia) organic growth lower than the operating profit (beia) organic growth.

HEINEKEN will host an analyst and investor conference call with Harold van den Broek, Chief Financial Officer, in relation to its First Quarter 2024 Trading Update at 14:00 CET/13:00 GMT. The call will be audio cast live via the company’s website: . An audio replay service will also be made available after the conference call at the above web address. Analysts and investors can dial-in using the following telephone numbers:

United Kingdom: 9

Netherlands:

United States:

All other locations: 9

For the full list of dial in numbers, please refer to the following link:

Participation password for all countries: 655905

Editorial information

HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium and non-alcoholic beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken^® brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 350 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. With HEINEKEN’s over 90,000 employees, we brew the joy of true togetherness to inspire a better world. Our dream is to shape the future of beer and beyond to win the hearts of consumers. We are committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brew a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. We operate breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Most recent information is available on our and follow us on , and .

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Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations and assumptions with regard to the financial position and results of HEINEKEN’s activities, anticipated developments and other factors. All statements other than statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements also include, but are not limited to, statements and information in HEINEKEN’s non-financial reporting, such as HEINEKEN’s emissions reduction and other climate change related matters (including actions, potential impacts and risks associated therewith). These forward-looking statements are identified by their use of terms and phrases such as “aim”, “ambition”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “goals”, “intend”, “may”, “milestones”, “objectives”, “outlook”, “plan”, “probably”, “project”, “risks”, “schedule”, “seek”, “should”, “target”, “will” and similar terms and phrases. These forward-looking statements, while based on management's current expectations and assumptions, are not guarantees of future performance since they are subject to numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may change over time, that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties relate to factors that are beyond HEINEKEN’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as but not limited to future market and economic conditions, the behaviour of other market participants, changes in consumer preferences, the ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and achieve anticipated synergies, costs of raw materials and other goods and services, interest-rate and exchange-rate fluctuations, changes in tax rates, changes in law, environmental and physical risks, change in pension costs, the actions of government regulators and weather conditions. These and other risk factors are detailed in HEINEKEN’s publicly filed annual reports. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only of the date of this press release. HEINEKEN assumes no duty to and does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Market share estimates contained in this press release are based on outside sources, such as specialised research institutes, in combination with management estimates.

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