Heineken posts revenue loss despite better beer sales

Dutch brewing giant Heineken said Wednesday revenue was down for the third quarter despite better beer sales but it kept full-year targets in place.

The company, whose brands include Amstel, Kingfisher and Savanna cider said net revenue fell by some 528 million euros to 9.072 billion euros ($9.78 billion) in the three months to end of September.

The Amsterdam-based brewer did not give specific reasons for the drop, but it did say net revenue was squeezed by currency devaluations in Brazil, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Mexico.

Premium beer volumes jumped by 4.5 percent for the quarter, while overall beer volumes grew by 0.7 percent.

Heineken chief executive Dolf van den Brink spoke of a "solid quarter of balanced growth".

"Our business continues to deliver in line with our plan in aggregate, despite some markets navigating challenging consumer and industry trends," he said in a statement.

"We confirm and reiterate our full year outlook to grow operating profit (beia) organically in the range of four to eight percent," Van den Brink said.

Heineken's shares rose by two percent in early morning trade on the Amsterdam stock exchange's blue chip AEX index to around 78.5 euros a share.