Heineken CEO Talks Beer Trends And More

Beer company Heineken HEINY has shown investors top-line growth over the past few years by following a simple recipe: giving more choice to the consumer, company CEO Jean-Francois van Boxmeer told CNBC.

Emerging Categories In Beer

Some of the popular alcoholic beverages which contributed to an organic top-line revenue growth include craft beer, ciders, international brands, and focusing on "local jewels," van Boxmeer said on CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe." One of the more notable areas of growth is non-alcoholic beer, a category the company entered last year with the launch of Heineken 0.0.

The CEO said the non-alcoholic category has plenty of room ahead to grow as it is only available in 57 countries. The company has plenty of different target markets it can promote to, including the "lunch-occasion" crowd, and the population of adults who simply don't want to drink alcohol but like the taste of beer.

"That will contribute to our top-line for years to come," he said.

Will Trade War Affect Heineken Stock?

Van Boxmeer said the beer company has seen zero impact from global trade wars because it mostly sources inputs close to where it brews the beer. As such, trade conflicts and disputes haven't impacted Heineken's business, especially compared to other companies.

Heineken has benefited this year from lower input costs, especially the key ingredient of barley, he said. On the other hand, the company is seeing wage inflation across Europe.

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Photo by Smit Patel on Unsplash