Heineken quarterly revenue slightly ahead of forecasts

LONDON (Reuters) -Dutch brewer Heineken (AS:HEIN)’s third-quarter sales figures beat forecasts on Wednesday, buoyed by higher priced and non-alcoholic beers, but full-year guidance was left unchanged.

The world’s second-largest brewer reported a 3.3% rise in organic net revenue year on year, just beating analyst expectations of 3.2% growth.

Heineken had disappointed investors earlier in the year with weaker than expected half-year figures and underwhelming full-year guidance.

The company said its namesake brand, which it prices higher than others in its portfolio, drove growth with volumes up 8.7% globally. In Africa and the Middle East and Asia Pacific, the increases were in double digits.

Volumes rose only 0.7% overall, however, and were down in two of Heineken’s three main regions.

“Our business continues to deliver in line with our plan in aggregate despite some markets navigating challenging consumer and industry trends,” Chief Executive Dolf van den Brink said in a statement.

The company left its full-year guidance of 4-8% organic operating profit growth unchanged.