The Dutch brewery Heineken recorded unexpectedly strong growth in beer sales in the first quarter of the year, particularly in its premium segment. Organic revenue from beer sales increased by 4.7% compared to the previous year, significantly exceeding the market expectations of 2.5% projected by the company, while prices rose by 6.0%.

Especially the premium segment, which includes brands such as Heineken, Tiger, Desperados, Birra Moretti, and Kingfisher Ultra, grew organically by 7.3%, thereby outperforming the overall performance of the beer portfolio. Growth in the premium category was led primarily by the Heineken brand and its extensions.

The revenue for the quarter reached 8.18 billion euros, compared with 7.63 billion euros in the previous year. The adjusted net revenue grew organically by 9.4% to 6.85 billion euros, however, it missed the market consensus estimate of 6.94 billion euros provided by the company.

Dolf van den Brink, the Chairman of the Company, commented positively on the results: "All regions recorded growth in volume and net sales, and we saw a continuous improvement in the company's performance, which grew with or ahead of the category in the majority of our markets."

He added that the economic environment remains challenging and uncertain, and emphasized the need for the company to stay agile and focused.

For the future, Heineken expects that the adjusted operating income, which excludes exceptional and one-time items, will see organic growth in the low to high single-digit percentage range. The company continues to anticipate that the organic growth of the adjusted net income will be lower than that of the adjusted operating income.