Western Europe
- Revenue €5.5 billion
- EBIT €410 million
- EBIT (beia) €665 million
- Consolidated beer volume 31.9 million hectolitres
- Heineken volume in premium segment 7.5 million hectolitres
“Our region benefited from the success of our innovations: profit grew and the Heineken brand continued to gain share. DraughtKeg achieved an increase in sales and the roll-out of the Extra Cold programme was accelerated. We will continue to invest in innovation in order to create opportunities.”
Didier Debrosse
President Heineken Western Europe
In Western Europe, Heineken realised good profit growth driven by the premiumisation of the beer market, higher prices and the delivery of cost savings resulting in an EBIT (beia) increase of 5.1 per cent. Revenue grew 1.9 per cent to €5,450 million.
In 2007, Heineken continued to invest in its key brands and in innovation. In the first half of 2007, two additional filling lines for DraughtKeg were installed in the Netherlands, increasing production capacity to more than 1 million hectolitres. As a result, supply and demand were better aligned and DraughtKeg was able to achieve a significant increase in sales, doubling volume versus 2006. Additionally, the roll-out of the Extra Cold beer programme was accelerated, with the installation of Extra Cold fridges or draught installations in more than 22,000 outlets.
Consolidated beer volume in Western Europe was 0.6 per cent lower at 31.9 million hectolitres. Higher volumes were achieved in Spain, Italy, the UK, Ireland and in the export markets in the Nordic region. However, lower volumes in France, the Netherlands and Switzerland offset these gains.
In this challenging environment the Heineken brand continued to gain market share, organically growing volume in the premium segment by 7 per cent. All countries in the region recorded higher volumes of the brand, with Spain, France, and Italy accounting for 67 per cent of the total increase.