World: Heineken withdraws all guidance for 2020 due to Covid-19

Heineken N.V. issued on April 8 the following statement.

With the spread of the Covid-19 crisis to all geographies, multiple countries have taken far-reaching containment measures such as restrictions of movement for populations and outlet closures, sometimes combined with the mandatory lockdown of production facilities. This constitutes a major negative macro-economic development and as such it is having a significant impact on Heineken�s markets and on its business in 2020.

In these very trying times, Heineken�s priority is to ensure the health and welfare of its employees, customers, and business partners. All Heineken teams are mobilised to enable the company to face this unprecedented crisis in the best possible way, and to protect the long-term potential of its brands and businesses.

For the first quarter of 2020, Heineken expects to announce a total consolidated volume decrease of around -4% organically with beer volume around -2%. The impact is expected to worsen in the second quarter. Heineken has entered the crisis with a strong balance sheet as well as undrawn committed credit facilities and has successfully secured additional financing on the debt capital market in recent weeks. Heineken will provide more information on its mitigating actions in its 2020 first quarter trading update on 22 April. In any case, the lack of visibility on the end date of the Covid-19 pandemic and the duration of its impact on the economy leads Heineken to withdraw all guidance for 2020.