Growth: Global and local power brands in focus markets driving growth
- Total volume increased 1.6%, accelerating in Q2; consolidated volume grew 0.4%, and licensed volume up 23.2%.
- All five global brands delivered growth, with Heineken® volume up 5.3% and Tiger returning to volume growth.
- Priority segments delivered superior volume growth: premium grew 6%, beyond beer up 8%, LoNo 12% higher.
- Net revenue growth of 2.7%, expanding in all regions. Net revenue per hectolitre up 2.3%.
- Strong delivery from focus markets in APAC and AME, softer in the Americas. Sound recovery in Europe.
- In over two-thirds of our markets, we gained or held share.
- Marketing and selling expenses at 10.1% of net revenue, increasing slightly.
Profitability: Margin expansion supported by productivity
- Operating profit grew 6.7% with operating profit margin expanding 55 bps to 14.6%.
- Diluted Earnings per Share (EPS) of €2.29, up 11.6% (2025: €2.08).
- Reduced FTEs by c. 3,000 in the first half, materially advancing the planned organisational changes.
- Gross savings on track at the top end of the €400–500 million range, with strong net savings conversion.
Capital Efficiency: Strong cash flow delivery
- Free Operating Cash Flow of €1.4 billion, translating into a cash conversion ratio of 97%.
- Second tranche of the €1.5 billion share buyback programme on track.
- Interim Dividend of €0.76 per share, in line with our dividend policy.
Progressing with pace on EverGreen 2030 priorities
- Innovation accelerated, with 40+ focused pilots supported by our global R&D centre and a faster pilot-and-scale model.
- Stepped-up productivity through operating model simplification, implementing Multi-Market Organisations, a focused strategic Head Office transformation, agile supply chain networks, and
- HEINEKEN Business Services expansion.
- Strengthened our footprint through HEINEKEN Costa Rica integration and solid progress to exit or fix resolve markets.
- Reiterating FY2026 operating profit growth guidance of 2% to 6%.
"During the first half of 2026, we accelerated the execution of EverGreen 2030. We delivered volume growth and robust operating profit expansion, with all five global brands in growth and good momentum in our premium and beyond beer portfolios. This performance reflects the quality of our growth, the resilience of our advantaged footprint, and our ability to adapt and execute in a dynamic environment. We took further significant steps to boost productivity and build future fit capabilities, ensuring we drive further growth efficiently. We are confident in our strategy and progress, yet remain prudent given ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. We reiterate our full-year operating profit growth guidance of 2% to 6%. We look forward to welcoming Rafa Oliveira as Chief Executive Officer on 1 October as we continue to deliver on EverGreen 2030 in the pursuit of sustainable value creation for all our stakeholders. Harold van den Broek, CFO and member of the Executive Board."
Outlook 2026
Based on current conditions in the macro-economic landscape, we are assuming an unchanged consumer environment in most of our markets and remain confident yet prudent in our expectations for 2026. Furthermore, we are accelerating the disciplined execution of EverGreen 2030, continuing investments in growth and adapting our operating model with speed. As such, we anticipate:
- Operating profit to grow between 2% and 6%, reflecting our current assessment of inflation and other macroeconomic
conditions as well as sustained investments required to accelerate our EverGreen 2030 strategy. - While selected commodity costs remain under pressure, gross savings towards the upper end of our €400 to €500 million medium-term guidance range are expected to offset a significant part of these headwinds. As a result, we continue to expect variable costs to increase by a low-single-digit per hectolitre, broadly unchanged.
- An average effective interest rate of around 3.5% (2025: 3.4%).
- Other net finance expenses (ONFE) to be in the range of €175 to €225 million (2025: €199 million), depending on exchange rate fluctuations.
- An effective tax rate (ETR) around 28% (2025: 27.2%), at the upper end of our previous range (27% to 28%) primarily reflecting the integration of HEINEKEN Costa Rica.
- Capital expenditure as a percentage of net revenue to be below 8% (2025: 8.3%).
- The completed acquisition of FIFCO’s beverage and retail businesses and the disposal of operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to be c. 2% to 3% accretive to EPS.
- A reduced share count due to our share buyback programme, expected to be c. 2% accretive to EPS.