Heineken secures a buyer for its Russian business

Heineken has found a buyer for its Russian business after vowing to withdraw from the nation permanently following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The beer giant, which has still been operating in Russia despite promises to exit, reported via The Times that it was still waiting for the Russian authorities to approve the sale, so could not identify the buyer.

The Dutch brewer said: “If and when we have approval, we will share further details about the buyer and agreement. We continue to make progress to transfer the ownership of our business in Russia and an application has been submitted for approval to the authorities in the Russian Federation in line with local regulatory requirements.”

Heineken recently revealed how it had been working hard to unload its Russian business, and was even prepared to take a “significant financial loss” to do so.

In March 2022, following the invasion, Heineken said that operating in Russia was “no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment” and expressed its sadness over the escalating war.

Regarding its new buyer, Heineken added that there was “a limit to what we can say before this process is completed.

Despite its challenges with Russia, Heineken recently reported higher-than-anticipated profit in 2022 and forecasts a further profit increase for 2023. The brewer revealed operating profit grew 24.0% organically driven by the volume recovery in Asia Pacific and Europe.

Revenue for the full year 2022 was €34,676 million (2021: 26,583 million). Net revenue increased by 21.2% organically, with total consolidated volume growing by 6.4% and net revenue per hectolitre up 13.9%.

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