亞洲需求助推喜力業績 Heineken sales boosted by demand in Asia and Latin America

Heineken, the world’s third-largest brewer, reported better than expected sales growth in the first quarter, thanks to strong demand in China and Vietnam over the lunar new year.

世界上第三大啤酒釀造商喜力(Heineken)報告第一季度銷售增長高於預期，得益於中國和越南在農曆新年期間的強勁需求。

Beer volumes grew 11 per cent in the first three months of the year or 7 per cent excluding currency effects — well ahead of analysts’ expectations of a 2.3 per cent rise in organic volumes.

今年前三個月啤酒銷量增長11%（扣除匯率影響後增幅爲7%）——遠高於分析師們2.3%的有機增長預測。

Shares in the company jumped 4.7 per cent in the early minutes of trading to hit a record high of 86.80, before paring the gain to about 2 per cent.

週三開盤後的最初幾分鐘裏，該公司股價躍升4.7%，至每股86.8歐元的最高紀錄，此後漲幅收窄至2%左右。

However, the Dutch brewer cautioned that the Nigerian market was getting tougher as people traded down to cheaper beers, while the possibility of a devaluation of the naira “continues to impact the business adversely”.

儘管如此，該荷蘭啤酒商告誡稱，尼日利亞市場面臨更大困難，因爲當地人轉而購買更便宜的啤酒，同時當地貨幣奈拉貶值的可能性“對業務具有持續的負面影響”。

Nigeria, Africa’s largest oil producer and Heineken’s second-largest market, has been hard hit by the sharp fall in oil prices and consumers face higher food and fuel bills, leaving less to spend on beer.

作爲非洲最大產油國和喜力第二大市場的尼日利亞，受到石油價格大幅下跌的重創，消費者面臨更高昂的食品和燃油賬單，可用於啤酒消費的支出減少了。

Although Nigeria performed strongly in the first quarter — driving all the growth in beer volumes in Africa and the Middle East — the Dutch brewer warned that this growth had been “flattered” by a low base for comparison last year and that “forthcoming quarters will be more difficult”.

雖然尼日利亞市場在第一季度表現強勁（推動了整個非洲和中東地區的啤酒銷量增長），但這家荷蘭制酒商警告稱，這一增長因去年的基數較低而看上去較高，“未來幾個季度將更加困難”。

Jean van Boxmeer, chairman and chief executive, said: “This has been a good first quarter supported by a strong Vietnamese and Chinese new year period and the earlier timing of Easter.”

喜力董事長和首席執行官讓-弗朗索瓦範博克斯米爾(Jean van Boxmeer)表示：“第一季度業績良好，受到越南和中國新年和復活節日期較早的有力支持。”

He stuck to the group’s full-year targets — of growth in sales and profits and an improvement in operating profit margins of 0.4 percentage points — but warned that currency volatility “continues to weigh on results”.

他重申了集團的全年目標（實現銷售和利潤增長，以及營業利潤率上升0.4個百分點），但警告說匯率波動會“持續拖累業績”。

Net profits for the quarter fell to 265m from 579m in the same period last year, but last year’s figure included an exceptional gain of 379m from the sale of Empaque, its former Mexican packaging business.

該季度淨利潤從去年同期5.79億歐元降至2.65億歐元，但去年的數字包含了出售墨西哥包裝業務Empaque所得的3.79億歐元額外收益。

Heineken said it expected an 80m currency hit on full-year operating profits — up from 60m — and a 50m hit to net profits, previously 35m.

喜力稱，預計匯率對全年營業利潤的的打擊將從6000萬歐元增加到8000萬歐元，對淨利潤的打擊從3500萬歐元增加到5000萬歐元。

Describing the results as “strong”, analysts at Canaccord Genuity highlighted the robust performance of Brazil, where many consumer companies have reported a slowdown as the economy weakens but where sales of premium lagers are still holding up.

投資銀行Canaccord Genuity的分析師以“強勁”描述喜力業績，他們着重指出了巴西市場的穩健表現，隨着巴西經濟趨弱，許多消費品公司報告該市場放緩，但優質拉格啤酒的銷量仍然保持良好。