The billionaire founder of Microsoft has bought a 3.76% stake in Dutch drinks giant Heineken Holding NV, although Gates has previously said he was “not a big beer drinker”.

Brands Report 2023: Beer

05 January, 2023

There’s a broad country spread when it comes to the beers stocked in the world’s best bars.

Heineken UK has announced the purchase of the remaining shares of Beavertown Brewery, having purchased a minority stake in 2018, assuming full ownership of London’s largest brewery.

AB InBev has signed a 20-year deal to replace Heineken as the main beer supplier to UK pub giant JD Wetherspoon.

South African wine and spirits producer Distell has withheld its dividend for 2021 financial year amid ongoing takeover talks with Heineken.

Heineken is in talks with South African wine and spirits producer Distell about acquiring “the majority” of its business.

Heineken has announced plans to cut 8,000 jobs as part of an organisational restructuring effort designed to save €2 billion by 2023.

Heineken has launched Desperados Virgin 0.0% globally in line with the growing alcohol-free beer sector around the world.

Amstel trains focus on China

16 December, 2020

Heineken has unveiled plans to make Amstel one of the bestselling beer brands in the Chinese market.

Heineken beat analysts’ expectations by reporting a volume sales decline of just 1.9% during the third quarter of 2020.

Heineken has entered the hard seltzer category with the launch of Pure Piraña in Mexico and New Zealand.

Heineken 0.0% will take over sponsorship of the Europa League when the tournament resumes on Wednesday night.

Heineken has reported a 52.5% decline in first-half earnings after the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on its on-trade business.

Heineken has reported a 14% drop in volume sales during March as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Brands Report 2020: Beer

28 January, 2020

Almost 20% of bars polled for the Brands Report said Heineken was their number one bestseller.

Heineken will be the official beer partner of UEFA EURO 2020 and in a separate agreement has extended its UEFA Champions League partnership until 2024.

Heineken has witnessed a successful summer through the sales of its mini kegs in the off trade according to Toby Lancaster, category and shopper marketing director for Heineken UK.

London-based beer brand Beavertown Brewery, has sold a minor stake in its business to Heineken for £40m.

Macedonian Thrace Brewery (MTB) has welcomed the success in its long-running legal battle with Heineken and its 98.8%-owned Greek operating subsidiary, Athenian Brewery (AB), for anti-competitive market abuses in Greece.

Heineken has partnered up with Infor, a provider of industry-specific cloud applications, to optomise production capacity and reduce waste.

The Tequila Regulatory Council says it is preparing to sue Dutch brewing giants Heineken over the use of  the word ‘Tequila’ on the labels of its Desperados lager range.

Research conducted by Euromonitor International shows that the global alcoholic drinks market declined by 0.2% in 2016, the second year in a row the industry has depreciated.

Heineken has appointed former Lagunitas Brewing executive chairman, Tony Magee, as its global craft director shortly after buying out his brand.

UK supermarket chains have embraced the craft beer market by increasing the range of individual breweries and lowering the varieties of big brands.

Heineken, in partnership with Dutch airline KLM, has pioneered in-flight draught beer.

Heineken takes control of Red Stripe in the UK from January 1.

Heineken has announced the appointment of Cindy Tervoort to the role of UK marketing director, following Jacco van der Linden’s promotion to managing director of Heineken’s operating company in China.

Heineken has announced the launch of two colourful products in an attempt to entice younger consumers in the UK.

Next up in the Brands Report is beer. 

Johnnie Walker and Smirnoff have once again earned a place on the Interbrand ranking of the top 100 most valuable global brands. 

Heineken UK has unveiled a raft of new products and some fresh initiatives to tempt people back into pubs and hopefully drink Heineken drinks.

A series of actions designed to strengthen and expand existing efforts to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, have been agreed by the world’s leading producers of beer, wine and spirits.

Heineken has strenghtened its position in Asia with the US$4.3bn deal to buy Fraser & Neave’s interest in Asia Pacific Breweries (APB).

Cider

12 September, 2012

Cider – and its many variants – continues to capture the imaginations of consumers. But does it have worldwide appeal? Hamish Smith gets to the core of the issue

Heineken has announced it will take the US distribution of its global-leading cider brand, Strongbow, in-house from next year.

Heineken USA has launched a website for the on-trade.

US: Heineken, the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System and White Plains Hospital Center have issued tips to help prevent excess drinking during Prom season.

Heineken has announced the winners of its Limited Edition Design Challenge, a competition to find the front and back label designs for a million of its bottles.

Heineken has announced net profits of €1.5 billion before one-off items, an increase of 9.2%.

Heineken has announced that it has extended its 15-year partnership with the James Bond franchise.

Heineken USA has appointed Brian Fried as regional vice president sales, western region, effective immediately.

Heineken has declared an intention to increase its share in a brewery in Haiti to 95%.

Heineken and Facebook have announced a global partnership, which will see the two companies collaborate on digital campaigns for Heineken’s brands around the world. 

Heineken has extended its sponsorship of the Rugby World Cup to remain its official beer supplier and worldwide partner for the 2015 tournament in England.

Africa: Heineken has purchased two breweries in Ethiopia for a total of US$163 million. 

Heineken and Google have announced an advertising partnership which will begin with the launch of worldwide digital campaigns on YouTube and mobile phones.

Heineken has proposed that Charlotte Kwist replaces her uncle Dirk Pieter Hoyer as a director of Heineken Holdings.

Africa: Heineken has announced the acquisition of two holding companies from the Sona Group. The two acquired businesses have controlling interests in each of the Sona, IBBI, Benue, Life and Champion breweries in Nigeria.

Amsterdam: Heineken has announced a new 10-year sustainability agenda.

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