Heineken revenue down 12%
As a result, the Dutch brewer saw a 35.6% decline in Operating Profits to €2.4 billion.
In its Full Year Results, published today, Heineken also expressed its intention to cut its global workforce by 10%.
Despite the pandemic, Heineken’s premium beer volume outperformed the broader portfolio in the majority of its markets with but a mid-single digit decline overall.
The pandemic’s impact on its business was amplified by its geographic exposure to the on-trade – in Europe in particular, it estimates that at the end of January 2021, less than 30% of on-trade outlets were operating – but it still managed to gain share in most of its key markets, it reports.
And its Heineken brand volumes were down only marginally – by 0.4% – “significantly outperforming the total market” with the brand actually growing by double-digits in 25 markets around the world in 2020.
In Europe, however, with its greater emphasis on hospitality and the on-trade, the brand suffered a 7.1% organic decline in volumes.
Heineken 0.0 experienced strong double-digit growth in all regions, the brewer reports.
In addition, Heineken raised over €10 million to support 50,000 on-trade outlets in 21 countries affected by Lockdowns through its Back the Bars initiative.
While this was going on, its commercial teams reallocated resources across channels and brands, increasing their focus on off-trade customers and it also accelerated the deployment of its e-commerce platforms, capitalising on digitalisation trends as consumers and customers shopped online.
2021 Outlook
The brewer, which no longer releases data on the market here in Ireland, reports that, “Overall the Covid-19 pandemic and governments’ measures continue to have a material impact on our markets and business”.
Heineken also intends to reduce its workforce by 10% globally.
This follows a review of the effectiveness and efficiency of its organisations at its Head Office, regional offices and each of its local operations.
“The restructuring programme will reduce our employee base by around 8,000 people,” it states.