Regional Review continued
Central and Eastern Europe
Increasing popularity
Central and Eastern Europe is Heineken’s largest region by volume and has huge growth potential. Many markets are benefiting from a growing European Union. In addition, the Heineken brand is benefiting from the increased popularity of premium beers.
- Revenue
- €3.4 billion
- EBIT
- €339.2 million
- EBIT (BEIA)
- €364.3 million
- Consolidated beer volume
- 46.9 million hectolitres
- Heineken group volume
- 2.2 million hectolitres
Consolidated beer volume In millions of hectolitres
Central and Eastern Europe is Heineken’s largest region by volume and is showing continued growth. Our business is benefiting from integration of acquired breweries and the outcome of portfolio optimisation. The Heineken brand is increasing its popularity.
Revenues grew 20.1 per cent, with an organic growth rate of 10.4 per cent driven by the outstanding volume performance. First-time consolidations accounted for a 4.4 million hectolitre increase and are mostly related to the integration of Ivan Taranov Breweries. EBIT BEIA grew significantly fuelled by higher volumes, better price and sales mix and by stronger currencies, mainly the zloty and the rouble. EBIT growth was particularly strong in Austria, Greece, and Romania.
“ Our integration of acquired breweries, our successful portfolio optimisation in a number of countries and our focus on premium brands have explicitly strengthened our position and allow us to tap the growth potential in the Central and Eastern European region.”
The Heineken brand posted a healthy 15.2 per cent growth throughout the region, exceeding the 2 million hectolitre mark for the first time driven in part by an outstanding performances in Poland, Russia and Greece. Consolidated beer volumes grew 19.4 per cent to 46.9 million hectolitres. First-time consolidations contributed 4.4 million hectolitres. Volumes grew in every country with the exception of Austria and Slovakia.
In Germany the soccer World Cup drove beer consumption up, especially in the first half and our joint venture Brau Holding International outperformed the market.
In Russia an exceptionally strong third quarter, coupled with the success of our portfolio optimisation, led to volumes of 13 million hectolitres.
Beer sold in plastic PET bottles has grown so rapidly that it now represents more than 40 per cent of consumption in some countries in the region. To capitalise on this trend, we rolled out new products in this packaging. One example of this is the new TopStar®, a high-quality PET bottle, which has been used for Goldenbrau® and Zagorka®.
Russia is now our largest operation by volume, while we are the strong third player in the market with a share of 13.2 per cent. We are targeting a market share of 20 per cent in five to six years time.
