Heineken positive on its activities in Russia

06/07/06 Heineken N.V. has announced that the integration of its Russian businesses is proceeding at pace and that beer volumes are developing excellently.

Heineken expects that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the total volume of beer sales will exceed 13 million hectolitres in 2006. The like-for-like sales volume of 2005 amounted to 12 million hectolitres of beer. The first time consolidation of the breweries Patra, Stepan Razin, Baikal and Ivan Taranov, which were acquired in 2005, explains the difference between the 12 mentioned above and 7.4 million hectolitres of beer volume as disclosed in the 2005 annual report. The strong volume increase is the result of the growth of the beer market by over 4 percent and the excellent performance of the brands Heineken, Amstel, Ochota, Zlaty Bazant and Patra.
 
Heineken Brewery in Russia has reduced the headcount by 500 employees as a result of integration activities and improvement of efficiency. 
 
Based on the current positive developments Heineken confirms it expectation that its Russian acquisitions will become value enhancing in 5 years time.
 
Russia is Heineken’s largest beer market by volume. Heineken targets a market share of 20 percent in about 5 to 6 years through organic volume growth.