Chief Executive's statement
Delivering sustainable growth
Report of the Executive Board
Reportofthe Reportofthe Financial Other
Contents Overview Executive Board Supervisory Board Statements Information
Left Jean-Franqois van Boxmeer
Chairman of the Executive Board/CEO
Right Laurence Debroux
Member of the Executive Board/CFO
2015 has been another strong year for our
business, reflecting the continued success of our
strategy. Our focus on premium brands, together
with disciplined cost management, has enabled
us to drive top- and bottom-line growth and at
the same time to increase our operating margin
by 23 basis points, after the impact of the
divestiture of Empague, in line with our guidance
for the year. Consolidated revenue grew 3.5 per
cent organically with revenue per hectolitre up
1.3 percent. Consolidated operating profit (beia)
grew 6.9 per cent organically.
The world in which we live and work
Our progress was achieved against a backdrop
of significant geopolitical, socio-economic and
environmental challenges, all of which in one
way or another had an impact on our business.
It is therefore no coincidence that I begin my
review with Brewing a Better World (BaBW), our
approach to delivering sustainable growth and
creating shared value across our stakeholders.
The new thinking and partnerships that we
are developing as part of this are central to
navigating through, and ultimately meeting,
the global challenges we face. At every stage
of our business - from Barley to Bar - we
are making positive progress in terms of
achieving our targets. We also have a stronger
understanding of how to optimise our impact
in terms of the resources we use.
Our collaborations with global organisations
such as UNIDO and WWF International, and
with local stakeholders, are helping to reduce
and balance our water usage. Solar power
is enabling a number of our brands to be
'brewed by the sun' - the latest being Tiger in
Singapore. And we continued to make good
progress in creating what will be the world's
first carbon neutral brewery at Göss in Austria,
a best practice that we will learn from and use
elsewhere. Addressing the issues associated with
alcohol abuse remains a priority. We continue
to invest significantly in 'Enjoy Responsibly'
campaigns. In December, the first of our
markets launched the latest iteration: 'Moderate
Drinkers Wanted'. This is a compelling, yet light-
hearted, international campaign that engages
women and encourages them to let men know
that drinking in moderation is cool.
Focus on premium
Our strategic focus on premium brands is
allowing us to benefit from continued and
increasing consumer demand for premium
and craft beer. Our premium portfolio is
growing across all regions.
Heineken® remains the world's most valuable
premium beer brand. It continues to grow across
all regions. Our ability to achieve this is testament
to the guality of the beer and our commitment
to invest in high-impact, consumer-focused
marketing. 2015 was no exception with the
new lames Bond film 'Spectre', the Rugby
World Cup and the UEFA Champions League
all providing brilliant opportunities to engage
our consumers.
Our premium focus goes well beyond the
Heineken® brand. Desperados and Strongbow
are leading in the high-growth, global premium
flavoured beer and cider categories. And
with Tiger and Dos Eguis we have regional
powerhouse brands that are gaining recognition
around the world. We are also using our expertise
to deliver premium extensions of local brands,
like Birra Moretti Le Regionali in Italy, which
are meeting the growing demand for premium-
guality brands that deliver a sense of local pride
and loyalty.
During the year we acguired a 50 percent
shareholding in the Lagunitas Brewing
Company. The Lagunitas team has built one
of the great US craft beer brands and we
are looking forward to partnering with them
to expand the brand globally. We will bring
Lagunitas to parts of the world yet to be
reached by the craft brewing phenomenon.
4 Heineken N.V. Annual Report 2015
