BEER manufacturer Heineken Spain has seen its profits soar in the last year with a 4.4% rise to just under €1 billion.
The company's turnover, including its distribution centre and restaurant holding, has risen by 132% to €59 million, having bounced back from major losses in 2012 following the merger with Portuguese drinks firm Sociedade Central de Cervejas e Bebidas which led to Heineken falling into the red by €142m.
But with production rising to over 10 million hectolitres, of which 40% comes from its factory in Sevilla, and an investment of €66m in modernising and expanding its plants in Sevilla, Jaén, Madrid and Valencia, Heineken has managed to absorb its losses over the last three years.
Chairman of Heineken Spain, Richard Weissend, says over 90% of the ingredients used to make its beer comes from producers local to each of its four factories.
He says the company's sharp recovery has been the result of improving efficiency, investing in human capital and talent, brand management, and innovation.
Weissend reveals that in the second half of 2013, the corporation started to see signs of positive change in its finances which have continued throughout 2014 and the first half of 2015, with more of its drinks consumed in bars and restaurants than in previous years where crisis-stricken Spain avoided any unnecessary expenditure in a bid to make ends meet.
In fact, in the past year, consumption has gone up by 5% and Weissend is confident it will continue to rise.
Heineken has improved its slice of the market and is now neck-and-neck with its nearest rival in Spain, Mahou San Miguel, and its Sevilla factory is the most modern in Europe, having inflated its production by 6% since 2013 to two million litres a day, five days a week.
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