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27/02/2006
Lager's on the up - stout's going dow
REVENUES at Heineken Ireland, which includes Heineken, Murphy's stout and Coors Light, grew 4.5pc last year, despite a declining market which has seen pub beer sales tumble.
The company said yesterday that 2005 was a breakthrough year, with Heineken now taking more than 20pc market share for the first time.
Heineken sales were up, as were Coors Light, but Murphy's saw sales fall as the stout market continues to suffer.
Rival Guinness reported last week that its sales fell 9pc in the last six months of 2005.
Heineken Ireland's turnover grew due to price increases and increased sales, spokesman Declan Farmer said. The whole company saw a 2.5pc jump in Irish sales volumes.
The Irish beer market is now worth more than €3bn, a fall of 0.7pc in 2005. But the fall in beer sales seems to be levelling off, as this decrease was smaller than the 5pc fall experienced in 2004.
The overall beer market saw a 3.7pc fall in pub sales last year, but this was partly offset by Irish consumers' move towards drinking at home, with off-trade beer sales up 11.4pc.
The vast majority of beer sales are still in pubs however, with 77pc of beer consumed in bars and 23pc bought in off-licences.
Heineken lager sales in pubs and off licences grew 1pc, and it now has close to a 30pc share of the lager segment.
Murphy's saw sales fall, but Mr Farmer said: "The performance of the brand exceeded the market's performance to gain share."
In the overall beer market, lager volumes grew by 3.5pc and now hold a 55pc share of the total.
Stout experienced a decline for the same period of 5pc.
Irish Independent
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