Heineken Operating Profit Down In Q1

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Dutch brewer Heineken said Wednesday that first quarter operating profit fell by a percentage "in the high teens" despite rising sales, due to the costs of integrating Scottish & Newcastle, which it acquired last year.

Heineken, which reports earnings twice annually, didn't release any actual figures for operating or net profit in Wednesday's trading update.

Sales grew by 24 percent to euro3.05 billion from the same quarter a year ago, thanks to the euro10.2 billion takeover of Scottish & Newcastle operations in May 2008, which made it the largest brewer in Britain.

If S&N had been integrated in both years, sales would have been down 1 percent, Heineken said. The company raised beer prices by 6 percent on average globally, but volumes fell by 7 percent.

Volume "was adversely impacted by a combination of factors including the global economic downturn, unfavorable weather, the continued effect of smoking bans, distributor destocking, excise duty increases and selling price increases," Heineken said.

Analyst Kris Kippers of Petercam Bank said the results were slightly worse than expected.