Heineken N. V. published on February, 23 its financial results for the full year 2009.

Heineken’s group beer volume* declined by 1.5% to 159.1 mln hl in 2009, the organic decline constituted 4.6%. Consolidated beer volume amounted to 125.2 mln hl (minus 0.5% versus last year, minus 5.4% organically). Heineken® premium volume declined to 25.1 mln hl from 25.9 mln hl in 2008. Volume of the Amstel brand was broadly stable at 10.5 million hectolitres, as the 24% increase in the African region offset lower volume in Europe and in the USA. Strongbow grew 7.2% to 3.6 million hectolitres thanks to the performance in the UK and the successful introduction of the brand in the Netherlands and South Africa. In the UK, Strongbow confirmed its absolute segment leadership.

Heineken’s revenue increased by 2.7% to EUR14.7 bln (declining, however, by 0.2% organically). EBIT (beia) increased by 8.4% versus last year, to EUR2.1 bln in 2009 (+ 14% organically). Net profit (beia) reached EUR1.01 bln (+ 4.1% versus 2008). Free operating cash flow soared by 217% to EUR1.74 bln in 2009.

“Our 2009 results clearly demonstrate the success of our strategy, the strength of our brands and the excellence and commitment of all our ...More Info

Danish brewing giant Carlsberg reported on February, 23 strong profit growth and significant cash flow for the full year 2009.

Carlsberg delivered a strong 2009 operating profit of DKK 9.4 bln (DKK 8.0 bln in 2008). For the beverage activities organic operating profit growth was 28%. Group operating profit margin improved to 15.8% (13.3% in 2008) and free cash flow improved substantially to DKK10.5 bln.

For Q4, Group operating profit was DKK 1.643 bln (DKK1.386 bln in Q4 2008) with 32% organic growth in the beverage activities. The Eastern European and Asian regions were the main drivers behind the strong organic growth, Carlsberg said.

The company said it managed to mitigate the impact from the market challenges and also improved market shares as a result of detailed planning and strong execution.

The Group's beer volumes increased by 6% to 116.0 mln hl with an organic beer volume decline of 4% (flat for Q4) and net acquisitions contributing 10%. Throughout the year Asian volumes continued to grow at high single-digit growth rates. Eastern Europe and Northern & Western Europe volumes declined organically by mid-single-digit rates.

Carlsberg’s net revenue declined by 1% to DKK 59.4 bln (DKK 59.9 bln in 2008) with a flat organic net ...More Info

Tsingtao Brewery Co. said its 2009 full year net income is estimated to have risen 75 percent to 85 percent compared with its profit in 2008, Bloomberg reported on February, 22.

Net income attributable to shareholders calculated under Chinese accounting standards was 699.55 million in 2008, and earnings per share were 0.5347 yuan, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Tsingtao attributed the growth to improving its “brand integration” and product mix, strengthening management and cutting costs. These factors helped to increase production, sales and profit, according to the statement.

In the first three quarters of last year, Tsingtao Brewery's net profit was RMB 1.26 billion, up 79.33% from the same period of the previous year. The firm's core business revenue during the period was RMB 14.74 billion, 12.70% more year on year, according to the company's third-quarter results.

Tsingtao Brewery is due to release its annual report on Apr. 9.

In 2009, Austria’s total beer consumption reached 8.4 mln hl, Austrian Brewers Association reported last week.

The country’s beer consumption per capita constituted 106.4 litres last year. Austrian brewers exported about 8.9 mln hl of beer in 2009.

Austrian brewers have a generally positive outlook for the current year hoping that the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa will help increase beer sales.

Sales of beer in Poland have fallen back to levels last seen in 2006, Puls Biznesu reported on February, 24.

Brewery group Żywiec said this week its beer sales by volume in 2009 fell more than 6 percent, leading to a drop of more than 2 percent in consolidated revenue and a 25 percent plunge in operating profit.

The company said that the total Polish beer market shrank last year by as much as 10.1 percent to 3.22 billion litres.

Nationwide annual beer consumption has dropped back to the 2006 average level of 85 litres per person. In 2008, the figure averaged 94 litres per person.

Ukraine’s barley exports will be limited by an increased competitiveness on the part of the world’s leading barley producers next year, Andrei Vadatursky, deputy general manager of Ukrainian grain trader Nibulon, was quoted as saying by APK-Inform on February, 23.

According to Mr. Vadatursky, Ukraine covers about 50% (about 6 mln tonnes) of the world’s barley needs whereas the barley export volumes of its main competitors varies between 1-2 mln tonnes (Canada) to 3-5 mln tonnes (Australia). EU-27 barley exports amount to 2-4 mln tonnes, he said.

“We can expect that Europe will be our main competitor on the global barley market next year,” Mr. Vadatursky said.

German farmers are, thanks to weak export hopes, on track to sell considerably more barley for intervention buying than the whole of the European Union submitted of the grain last season, Agrimoney.com reported on February, 23.

Grain traders believe that the 1.08 mln tonne-figure that German growers have submitted so far could swell to 1.5 mln tonnes by the time the programme ends in the summer, a US Department of Agriculture briefing said.

That would be nearly as much as the EU's whole grain buying programme in 2008-09, of which barley accounted for roughly 920,000 tonnes, including offers as yet open at the end of the season, according to Brussels data.

The increase reflects in part a dearth of export opportunities, after strong harvests in importing countries in North Africa and the Middle East, with rising competition from former Soviet states and Australia for what trade there is.

"Due to intensive competition from Black Sea countries, Germany barley has not found customers in traditional export markets," Dietmar Achilles, a USDA attaché in Berlin, said.

However, demand for barley has also suffered from substitution by rye and triticale, which are priced well below the E103.15 a tonne that barley sells for at intervention.

Meanwhile, farmers are proving ...More Info

Anthony J. Cutaia, Anna-Jean Reid and R. Alex Speers

J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 292–295, 2009 ABSTRACT
J. Inst. Brew. 115(4), 318–327, 2009 The historical development of equations used to relate alcohol and real extract to apparent extract and original gravity, as well as ratios between the corrected Real (RDF) and Apparent Degrees of Fermentation (ADF), were examined in light of modern polynomial and non-linear regression techniques. Comparisons were performed using an extensive data set of 532 brews obtained from commercial and pilot fermentations with statistical error analysis of these empirical relationships. New predictions of apparent extract were calculated as a function of alcohol and real extract analogous to the Improved Tabarie’s formula. In addition, attempts at improving Balling’s original equation model estimating original gravity from alcohol and real extract are detailed and discussed. The statistical analyses of relationships between Aw/w (alcohol by weight) and functions of OE (Original Extract), AE (Apparent Extract) and RE (Real Extract) as well as ratios between the corrected Real and Apparent Degrees of Fermentation (RDF/ADF) are reported. It is expected that this paper will be useful for brewers to more accurately estimate Aw/w and real extract values. Key words: ADF, alcohol, apparent extract, brewing calculations, original extract, RDF, real extract.
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