Heineken yesterday raised its 2006 profit forecasts amid strong demand for its Premium Light beer, the first significant extension of the brand in 133 years.
Heineken expects net organic profit growth for the full year to be above 10 per cent, up from previous forecasts of "mid-single-digit" growth.
The change in forecast surprised the market and the Dutch brewer's shares rose €1.30, or 3.9 per cent, to €34.29 on the Amsterdam stock exchange.
Heineken said sales had been healthy in central and eastern Europe, the Americas, Africa and south-east Asia, although growth remained weak in western Europe.
The brewer has also benefited from a successful launch of Premium Light, the 3.5 per cent alcohol by volume brew that it introduced into the US with a $50 million (€39.9 million) marketing campaign earlier this year.
Heineken developed the beer to take advantage of the large US market for low-alcohol beer, which makes up about half of the total beer market.
Sales of the beer, which account for about a quarter of total sales for the Heineken brand in the US, are expected to exceed initial volume targets of 400,000 hectolitres this year.
The brewer, which earns some 17 per cent of its group profits from the US, said strong sales of Premium Light were also helping sales of its core Heineken brand, which has an alcohol content of 5 per cent. Analysts say Heineken has been able to achieve a rise in Premium Light sales without losing regular Heineken drinkers.
