Metropolis Desk-
18 months after Moscow began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Dutch brewer Heineken has finished its evacuation from that country, selling its operations there for just 1 euro ($1.08).
Heineken announced on Friday that the sale to Russian industrial behemoth Arnest Group will result in a total loss of 300 million euros ($325 million).
After the start of the conflict, Heineken received criticism for the slowness of its exit but said it was doing so to protect its local Russian employees.
Heineken announced its exit from Russia in March of last year, citing the fact that its operations there were “neither sustainable nor viable in the current environment.” Heineken also stated that it wished to secure an “orderly transfer” to a new owner.
“While it took much longer than we had hoped, this transaction secures the livelihoods of our employees and allows us to exit the country responsibly,” said Heineken CEO Dolf van den Brink in a statement.
All of Heineken’s Russian assets, including seven breweries, are included in the deal. According to the corporation, Arnest has pledged to keep Heineken’s 1,800 local employees employed for three years.
The Russian market for Heineken beer was shut down last year. The business announced that Amstel, one of its other important brands, will be phased out within six months.
Heineken cut its global earnings forecast for the entire year last month after price increases to combat rising expenses hit beer sales and reduced profits in the first half.
The second-largest brewer in the world has spoken of the need for price rises to balance increasing commodity and energy prices, which were mostly brought on by Russia’s war against Ukraine.
As a result, beer volumes decreased 5.6 percent from the same period last year, which caused an 8.6 percent decline in net profit to 1.16 billion euros ($1.28bn).
After an 8.8% decline in the first half to 1.9 billion euros ($2.09bn), it now anticipates “stable to a mid-single-digit” operating profit growth on a like-for-like basis for the entire year.
Source- Al Jazeera
