Heineken MY sees 21% revenue growth due to Chinese New Year campaigns

Heineken Malaysia posted a 21% increase in group revenue from RM434 million last year to RM525 million for its first quarter ended 31 March 2019 (Q1 2019). This was mainly driven by higher sales volume from the effective execution of commercial campaigns during Chinese New Year this year, such as Tiger Beer’s Uncage New Beginnings campaign, nationwide activations of Guinness’ St. Patrick’s Festival and Heineken’s Live Your Music campaign. The revenue increase was also impacted by the increase in sales revenue prior to the price adjustment on 1 April 2019.Managing director Roland Bala said the company started the year well with a good first quarter and in addition to its campaigns, better management of its route to market also contributed to revenue growth.“We have kept price increase to a minimum and we have not increased the prices of some of our products. We are mindful of the challenging market conditions and that the Consumers Sentiment Index fell further below the confidence threshold of 85.6 in the first quarter,” Bala said. He also said that the clamp down on illicit alcohol by the government and the Royal Malaysian Customs Department had led to positive results and that Heineken will continue to work closely with relevant authorities in support of their initiatives to address this issue.Bala added that the company will leverage on the “solid growth” in the first quarter to continue sharpening its focus on executing the right strategies to drive value creation for its stakeholders towards delivering a satisfactory performance for 2019, whilst being cautious of softening consumer sentiment and competition that is expected to intensify.“An exciting year lies ahead of us as we reinforce our commitment to win in the marketplace by investing behind our core brands and innovations that have scale, improving our execution and route to market, developing our people and protecting our planet,” he said.Bala added that sustainability is at the core of its business and it remains on track to reduce its water and energy consumption. Through the work of its CSR arm, SPARK Foundation, it remains steadfast in its efforts to grow with local communities in the areas of environmental conservation and education for a greener and better tomorrow.