PETALING JAYA: Heineken Malaysia Bhd, which posted a 14.32% jump in its earnings for six months ended June 30, 2019 (1H19), will bank on its strong portfolio of brands to drive earnings momentum for the second half of the year (2H19).
“We have a portfolio of brands so we take a portfolio approach. I wouldn’t say I’m skewed to any of these (mainstream or premium) segments, it’s looking at the portfolio and putting our money behind those big bet brands that we have and (bringing) innovation into the market,” managing director Roland Bala told reporters after announcing its 1H19 financial results at a media and analyst briefing today.
Earlier, finance director Szilard Voros had revealed that most of its revenue growth were driven by its mainstream segment.
On its 2H19 outlook, Roland said given the intense competition and the continued threat from contraband beer, the group is cautiously optimistic in what remains a challenging external environment and it expects consumer sentiment to stay below the optimism threshold impacted by rising cost of living.
He said the group will continue to prioritise on strengthening its commercial execution across its route-to-market whilst sharpening the channel focus and accelerating growth of its innovation products.
“We continue to put in efforts to drive (the performance of the group). We’re also shareholders of the company,” he added.
Roland also stressed that it has no plans to increase the price of its products at the moment, following a selective price increase on some brands in April.
He said Malaysia has the third highest excise on beer in the world and any further increase will attract more illicit trade. Hence, the group does not expect excise to increase further.
Heineken’s net profit for the second quarter ended June 30, 2019 grew 19.67% to RM65.7 million compared to RM54.9 million in the same quarter last year, on the back of revenue growth that was up 21.59% to RM512.58 million as compared to RM421.57 million in the same quarter in 2018 mainly attributed to higher sales volume driven by all core brands. Excluding the sales and service tax impact, revenue grew by 15%.
For the half year period, its net profit grew 14.32% to RM118.5 million from RM103.66 million a year ago, while revenue increased 21.32% to RM1.04 billion from RM855.38 million.
The board has declared a single tier interim dividend of 42 sen per stock unit for FY19 to be paid on Oct 25, 2019. The entitlement date for the dividend payment is Sept 26, 2019.
