Net profit at Dutch brewer Heineken fell by more than half last year to 1.36 billion euros ($1.85 billion), the company reported on Wednesday, but the figure for 2012 had been inflated by an acquisition.
The 2013 result was 53 percent lower than for 2012, when the profits jumped by 1.4 billion euros on the back of the purchase of Asia Pacific Breweries.
But the group said that growth in emerging markets had fallen short of expectations.
Heineken's sales for 2013 showed a slight rise of 1.3 percent, to 21.25 billion euros, the Amsterdam-based brewer said in a statement.
Heineken chief executive Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said "2013 was a challenging year as slower economic growth in a number of key markets and adverse regulatory developments impacted performance."
Although the beer market in developing countries accounted for more than half of Heineken's revenue "performance of developing markets were not as strong as expected."
Van Boxmeer said Heineken expected a gradual recovery in the global economy in 2014 which would improve trading conditions in key markets.
This included growth in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, it said.
Net profit at Dutch brewer Heineken fell by more than half last year to 1.36 billion euros ($1.85 billion), the company reported on Wednesday, but the figure for 2012 had been inflated by an acquisition.
The 2013 result was 53 percent lower than for 2012, when the profits jumped by 1.4 billion euros on the back of the purchase of Asia Pacific Breweries.
But the group said that growth in emerging markets had fallen short of expectations.
Heineken’s sales for 2013 showed a slight rise of 1.3 percent, to 21.25 billion euros, the Amsterdam-based brewer said in a statement.
Heineken chief executive Jean-Francois van Boxmeer said “2013 was a challenging year as slower economic growth in a number of key markets and adverse regulatory developments impacted performance.”
Although the beer market in developing countries accounted for more than half of Heineken’s revenue “performance of developing markets were not as strong as expected.”
Van Boxmeer said Heineken expected a gradual recovery in the global economy in 2014 which would improve trading conditions in key markets.
This included growth in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America, it said.
