03-08-2010 - Vol. 41 / No. 5Sharp divergence in final 09 financial pictures of Crown Imports - a JV of Constellation and Grupo Modelo - and HUSA's owner Heineken. As it had all yr, Crown net revs and operating profits suffered with volume drop, exacerbated by price cuts in 2d half. With Crown volume off 5.3% in 09, revs down $166 mil, 6.8% to $2.3 bil. While big domestic brewers had healthy pricing, Crown's rev/bbl dipped 1.6%. (Part of that is mix shift to Modelo Especial.) Then too, Crown profits smacked harder: down $56 mil, 11% to $447 mil. That's down over 6% per bbl in 09 and nearly 9% per bbl since 07 when Crown took over all of US Modelo volume. Still, Modelo execs accentuated positive in yr-end report, praising Crown for gaining share of import biz, adding SKUs and Modelo Especial performance.
Heineken Americas biz includes Canada and South America, so not exactly comparable. But vast majority of Heineken biz in Americas is HUSA. It followed pattern of lotsa global players: sold lots less beer but made much more money doin' it. Heineken's Americas volume off mid-to-high single digits (depending how you count it). And rev dropped 1.6%. But operating EBIT (before share of gains/losses paid to partners or amounts from acquisitions/divestitures) actually jumped 63 mil euros, 30%. So Heineken raised oper EBIT margin in Americas from 10.7 to 13.3. "Key drivers" of profit growth were late 08 price increases for Dutch brands, "lower marketing rates," and cost cuts that "generated significant savings in marketing, logistics and general expenses." While Heineken brand "prone to downtrading" in tuff economic environment, ceo Jean Francois van Boxmeer said, Heineken still aims "not to discount" but "remain a credible premium brand."
