Heineken will report its second-quarter and half-year results tomorrow (24 August). Here, just-drinks brings you the highs and lows for the company in its most recent fiscal quarter.
- The quarter began with news that Heineken had significantly cut the number of marketing agencies that it uses for its namesake beer brand, following the launch of a global advertising campaign. It cut the number of agencies working on the Heineken brand around the world from 25 to just four.
- Later in the month, Heineken launched an interactive game for football fans watching the UEFA Champions League. StarPlayer allows fans to compete with each other by scoring points for correctly predicting what will happen during a game.
- In early May, Heineken secured access to EUR2bn (US$2.96bn) after it closed a new revolving credit facility. Funds can be used “for general corporate purposes (including acquisitions)”, the brewer said.
- Soon after, Heineken announced that it had won the bidding contest to acquire the state-owned Bedele and Harar breweries in Ethiopia, for US$85m and US$78m respectively. The two breweries have a combined volume market share of 18%.
- Only a few days later, Heineken was linked with a move for Brazil’s second largest brewer, Schincariol.When contacted by just-drinks, a Heineken spokesperson declined to comment on the speculation.
- In mid-May, Heineken’s joint-venture with Fraser & Neave, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB), said that it was seeking to profit further from Vietnam’s strong economy by expanding its brewing capacity in the country by 25%. Not long after this, APB announced the acquisition of the 40% of New Zealand’s Sale Street Brewery that it did not already own. It also signed a deal to acquire Solomon Breweries for approximately SGD22m (US$17.8m), and opened Guangzhou Asia Pacific Brewery in China.
- In the US, Heineken announced that Scott Blazek would move up from his current role as regional vice president for the Central Region at Heineken USA to become senior VP for sales at the US business. Blazek replaced Chris Steffanci, who left in March to become COO of Pabst Brewing Company in Illinois.
- At the end of May and into June, just-drinks published a two-part, exclusive interview with Heineken’s CEO, Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer. For part one, click here, and for part two, click here.
- In early June, Heineken announced that the current president of its Asia Pacific business will move to become president of the brewer’s Africa and Middle East division. On 1 August, Siep Hiemstra replaced Tom de Man, who has retired after a 40-year career with Heineken.
- In mid-June, Heineken secured a near-10% refund on a EUR219m (US$309m) fine handed down to the brewer by the European Commission for its part in forming a beer cartel in the Netherlands.
- As the crisis in Greece worsened, Heineken told just-drinks that it saw a chance to grab market share in the country, despite enacting a programme to cut costs.
- In the UK, Heineken’s marketing director, Sarah Warby, stepped down. Warby left Heineken UK after expressing “a desire to pursue a new challenge”, the brewer said.
- In late June, Heineken eached the halfway stage of its scheme to hand 29m shares to Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA), in exchange for ownership of its FEMSA Cerveza brewer. Heineken said it had delivered 13.1m of its own shares to FEMSA, with a further 1.8m set to be handed over by 1 July.
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