Heineken’s Italian lager brand Birra Moretti has overtaken Carling as the best-selling draught lager in Britain.
Draught sales of Birra Moretti have grown over the last quarter, increasing 9.6% compared to the previous year, with total sales for this period hitting £246.7 million, according to data analysts CGA.
The results came in with Birra Moretti in favour, despite Carling owner Molson Coors having invested £10 million in its Tadcaster brewery in an effort to increase the success of its beer brands. Despite this blow, Molson Coors has just beaten analyst predictions in its first quarter results, even though it is still showing a drop in revenue, but has recouped losses via its Madri lager brand.
Speaking to the drinks business, Heineken UK beer brands unit director Veronica Sica said, “Over the past few years, Mediterranean lagers, particularly those from Italy and Spain, have been a huge success story in the on-trade. In part this is due to consumers looking for new, exciting, and great-tasting brands but it is also about the shift to drinking less but better, so we can see how the beer category is undergoing further premiumisation.
Sica told db: “The growth in Birra Moretti value sales is an indicator of this trend, with the brand really well placed to grow sales for publicans, bar-owners and restaurateurs.”
The Birra Moretti brand has recently been supported by Heineken with a high-impact, multimillion pound nationwide marketing campaign which included television, out of home and social media advertising as well as presence across the on- and off-trade.
The company recently also launched Birra Moretti Sale di Mare, an unfiltered premium lager variant which has a hint of Italian sea salt added to its recipe. Queries over the trend of adding salt to beer to improve its flavour recently went viral after bartenders jumped on re-sharing the trend, showing that the Birra Moretti brand was bang on trend.
Last month, Dutch brewer Heineken delivered lower operating profit and beer sales than widely expected in its half-year figures, resulting in a 10% drop in share price.
The company, which also owns includes brands such as Amstel and Red Stripe, announced 2.1% in beer sales growth instead of the expected 3.4% and operating profit growth of 12.5%, which was below a forecast of 13.2%.
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