<![CDATA[Growth, Brands and More: Beer]]>https://www.filibertoamati.com/s/beerhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Qynt!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2751adcb-ebf9-4424-83d4-2d3eb37d8a2e_1280x1280.pngGrowth, Brands and More: Beerhttps://www.filibertoamati.com/s/beerSubstackWed, 05 Aug 2026 17:41:13 GMT<![CDATA[Heineken Just Proved You Can Grow Volume and Value at the Same Time. ]]>https://www.filibertoamati.com/p/heineken-just-proved-you-can-growhttps://www.filibertoamati.com/p/heineken-just-proved-you-can-growWed, 05 Aug 2026 15:27:58 GMT
a close up of a bottle cap on some ice
Photo by Michael Carrasco Flores on Unsplash

H1 2026: total volume up 1.6% to 142.8 million hectolitres. Net revenue per hectolitre up 2.3%. Operating margin up 55 basis points. That combination is rare in brewing, and it is the whole story.

Most FMCG boards have accepted a trade-off as gospel: you either grow volume and erode margin, or you protect margin and watch volume shrink. Heineken’s H1 2026 results do not fit that model, and the reasons why matter more to an operator than the headline numbers do.

Growth without a volume-value trade-off

Start with the group numbers. Total revenue before exceptionals and amortisation (BEIA) reached €17,552 million, up 2.4% organically from €16,910 million a year earlier. Net revenue BEIA came in at €14,834 million, up 2.7% organically. On an IFRS basis, net revenue rose 4.7% to €14,841 million, helped by portfolio changes and currency.

Operating profit BEIA grew 6.7% organically to €2,170 million. That is faster than revenue growth, which is the detail that separates a real margin story from a lucky one. Operating margin BEIA expanded 55 basis points to 14.6%. IFRS operating profit jumped 48.4% to €2,126 million, largely because of lower write-downs and lower amortisation rather than a one-off trading spike. Diluted EPS BEIA rose 11.6% at constant currency to €2.29, up from €2.08.

None of this required Heineken to lean on price the way the sector did in 2022 and 2023. Net revenue per hectolitre rose 2.3% organically. Total beer volume grew 1.6% to 142.8 million hectolitres, and the growth accelerated through the second quarter. That is the combination boards should be watching: price-mix discipline sitting alongside actual volume growth, not instead of it.

Cash generation backed up the profit and loss story. Free operating cash flow was €1,381 million, a 97% cash conversion ratio. Net debt to EBITDA BEIA sits at 2.6x, just above the group’s own 2.5x long-term target. Under the Leverage Threshold framework, that is the safe zone with a small margin of discipline still required. It is not a company borrowing its way to growth.

Read more

]]>