Dutch brewer Heineken NV Wednesday said its beer volumes in Romania declined in the high-single digits in the first six months of 2014 from a year earlier, hurt by weak market demand and poor weather.
Regional sales volume dropped 4.2 percent in the first semester, to 22.7 million hectolitres, compared to 23.7 million hectolitres in the first six months of last year.
The Dutch group posted smaller sales than in 2013 on the markets in Romania, Russia, Poland and Greece. Despite this, at a global level Heineken’s sales rose 3.1 percent, on increases in France, Netherlands, Spain, Brasil, USA and Nigeria.
Heineken’s revenues in Central and Eastern Europe, dropped, in organic base, by 2.3 percent in the first semester, from EUR 1.52 billion to EUR 1.42 billion. Moreover, operational profit for the company in this region decreased 7.4 percent, to EUR 115 million. On a global level, operational profit rose 14 percent to EUR 1.45 billion.