AMSTERDAM – Heineken NV says poor weather and weak economies in Europe dragged its third quarter earnings lower, though sales in developing markets grew strongly.
The Dutch brewer Wednesday reported net profit of 460 million euros ($585 million), from 483 million euros in the same quarter last year. Sales fell 1.5 per cent to 5.10 billion euros. Chief Executive Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said that had it not been for a business the company sold and currency effects, sales would have grown 0.2 per cent.
Revenues in its largest, most profitable market, Western Europe, fell 4.1 per cent. But Van Boxmeer said the company won an unspecified amount of market share.
In Eastern Europe revenues fell 8.5 per cent, while in the Americas they grew 2 per cent, in Africa 3.6 per cent, and in Asia 10 per cent.
