6 J 8 i— United States Regional Review The Americas Group volume Americas in millions of hectolitres 13 12 I 11 10 9 5 4 3 2 1 - L o Slil O) O I CN CO <T> O O O O or o o o o I C\l CM C\J CNl the Caribbean. The production, sale and distribution of Heineken beer in Chile and Argentina was transferred from former partner Quilmes to CCU, in which Heineken had acquired an indirect interest in 2003, via its 50% stake in IRSA. The latter in turn has a majority interest in CCU, which is by far the largest brewer and beverage supplier in Chile and owns breweries in Argentina. Heineken also owns a number of breweries in the Caribbean and Central America and has interests in and licensing agreements with several brewers in Cen tral and South America. The beer market in this region showed modest growth in 2003. On the basis of the predicted economic and demographic trends, Central and South America offer good growth prospects in the longer term. Modest growth in a virtually flat market While the US beer market contracted by around 1%, the imported beer segment showed modest growth. Heineken and Amstel Light increased their shares of the imported beer market slightly and sales rose to just over 6 million hectolitres, but the weaker dollar meant that the result was substantially lower. Against the background of the weakness of the economy, the war in Iraq, a cold winter in the North-East and the introduc tion of a smoking ban in bars and restau rants in some states, the US beer market had its worst year for a decade in terms of sales volume. As in previous years, the take-home segment grew at the expense of the on-trade. The light beer segment carried on growing, largely due to the rising demand for low-carbohydrate beers. Heineken USA is well placed to profit both from the sustained popularity of light beers and from the emergence of the low-carb segment, because Amstel Light sells in both markets. Performance Mainly due to the very bad weather, the beer market in the North-East of the US was weaker than in the rest of the country. Sales of Heineken and Amstel Light, both of which have a relatively strong presence in this region, were adversely affected, but this was made up by strong growth in the rest of the US, especially in the West. The Heineken and Amstel Light brands occupy fundamentally strong market positions which provide a good basis for further growth. Heineken USA's main strategic objective in the years ahead will be to build even closer relationships with the major retail chains, while continuing to focus on the higher end of the on-trade segment. The growth strategy for the East Coast is to concentrate on extending the market share and for the West Coast to work on expanding the distribution. Marketing and distribution With the launch of Heineken's new aluminium bottle and 16-ounce PET bottle, which are helping to broaden the availability of Heineken and Amstel Light, further progress was made in creating more relevant packaging variants for a wider range of venues. Heineken was again a principal sponsor of the Grammy Awards, the Latin Grammy Awards and the Latin Billboard Awards, and its involvement in the production of the Red Star Sounds CD, created to support new young talent, was a great success. Much publicity was also gained from sponsorship of major events such as the US Open tennis tournament and the movie The Matrix Reloaded. Amstel Light, positioned as 'the beer drinker's light beer', is market leader in the imported light beer segment. The brand was supported through sponsorship of sports events and summer activities. A significant development in this area was the appointment of Amstel Light as the official beer of the Professional Golfers' Association (PGA). Through the brand's sponsorship of the Iceland Open, Amstel Light drinkers were offered a chance to take part in a unique round-the- clock tournament by the light of the midnight sun. REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE BOARD 37

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Jaarverslagen | 2003 | | pagina 43