Heineken Ireland sales top €330m

Sales at Heineken Ireland topped €330 million in 2006, the Dutch-owned company said yesterday. Heineken Ireland, which owns Murphy's Brewery in Cork, said that 2006 revenues in this country grew 2 per cent on the previous year to €332 million.

Volume sales, the actual amount of beer it sold, grew by the same amount. The company said it increased its overall share of the Irish market to 21.6 per cent, a 1.3 per cent expansion on 2005.

The company said the Irish beer market is worth €3.2 billion a year, but "remained static" between 2005 and 2006. Along with Heineken, the company sells Murphy's stout, Amstel, Coors Light and a number of recently launched speciality beers.

The figures show that Heineken is the dominant of the four main brands.

Last year 28 per cent of all lagers sold in the country were Heineken.

A Heineken Ireland statement said yesterday it accounted for 16.8 per cent of the entire beer market. On that basis, it represented 78 per cent of the company's sales, or close to €260 million.

The company said that increasing consumer preference for lager drove sales growth last year.

Lager accounted for 60 per cent of the total market, and volume sales grew 8 per cent last year. But stout's share shrank from 38 per cent to 34 per cent.

Heineken said that its Murphy's Irish Stout brand grew its share of this market slightly to 5.1 per cent. However, its statement also points out that lager's growth has been at the expense of stout.

Earlier this week, Beamish & Crawford, the Cork-based Scottish and Newcastle subsidiary, said its Beamish Stout brand was the only one of three to grow sales during 2006.

However, it did not give any figures to support this claim. That company is also responsible for Miller and Foster lagers.

It said that revenues from all three beers grew 10 per cent during the year, but provided no figures to support this.

Last week, the world's biggest drinks producer, Diageo, owner of Guinness, blamed a decline in beer sales in Ireland, Britain and other European countries for a 2 per cent fall in first half operating profit to £484 million.

There is also an increasing shift in the Republic away from pubs to off-licences as more people choose to drink at home.

Yesterday's Heineken Ireland announcement came as its Dutch parent said it grew profits in 2006 by 12.6 per cent to €930 million from €840 million.

Sales at Heineken NV in 2006 were €11.8 billion, up 7 per cent on 2005, when revenues hit €10.8 billion.