Heineken has hailed the performance of its Cruzcampo, Inch’s and Murphy’s brands for helping it offset wider volume declines across beer and cider in the UK.
Reporting financial results for the three months ended 31 March 2025, Heineken said its beer and cider volumes in the UK declined by “a low single digit”.
The performance was “better than the market” and driven by the “strong growth trajectory” of Cruzcampo and Inch’s cider, “further supported by Murphy’s stout with distribution gains in the on and off-premise”, it said.
Cruzcampo, the Spanish-style lager introduced by Heineken in the UK in spring 2023, was singled out for particular praise. “Strong growth despite a high comparison base” helped mainstream beer and cider volumes remain stable globally, it said.
At a group level, Heineken saw net revenues eke up by 0.9% organically to €6.5bn, on volumes down 2.1%. The showing was ahead of analyst consensus of a 0.6% decline on volumes down 2.9%.
Volume declines were blamed on the timing of the results, including the impact of a later Easter and one less selling day in the quarter.
Europe was a particular weak spot, with revenues falling by 4.9% on volumes down 4.7%. Performance was “impacted by the late Easter, challenging customer negotiations, and a muted consumer environment”, the Dutch brewer said.
“Overall, we are gaining or holding volume market share in more than half of our markets year to date,” it insisted.
Amid “broader uncertainties” including tariff adjustments, Heineken hailed its ability to produce beer locally. “We remain agile in our allocation of capital and resources. With over 95% of our volume locally produced, our brewery footprint is advantageous,” it said.
Looking ahead, “ongoing macroeconomic volatility” including “weak sentiment, global inflationary pressures, and currency devaluations” could impact future performance, Heineken cautioned. Despite this, full-year guidance was maintained.
“As the year progresses, we will be navigating a macroeconomic environment increasingly in flux, requiring us to stay agile and proactively adapt to changing circumstances,” said Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink. “Considering the current conditions, we confirm our full-year outlook to organically grow operating profit (beia) by 4% to 8%. This reflects our adaptability, whilst standing by our commitment to invest in growth and future-proofing our business.”
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