HEINEKEN N.V. ANNOUNCES DECISION TO LEAVE RUSSIA
On March 28, 2022, HEINEKEN announced its decision to exit the Russian market, deeming its operations unsustainable amid ongoing geopolitical tensions. The company halted all investments and production of the Heineken® brand in Russia. An orderly transfer of ownership to a new entity is planned, ensuring compliance with local laws. HEINEKEN guarantees the payment of salaries for its 1,800 employees until the end of 2022 amid the transition, although it anticipates a total impairment and exceptional charges of around €0.4 billion from this move.
- Guarantee of employee salaries through 2022 for 1,800 staff.
- Orderly transfer of business planned to minimize disruption.
- Total impairment and exceptional charges expected to be approximately €0.4 billion.
Amsterdam, 28 March 2022
We are shocked and deeply saddened to watch the war in Ukraine continue to unfold and intensify.
We earlier announced that HEINEKEN stopped new investments and exports to Russia, ended the production, sale and advertising of the Heineken® brand, and announced that we will not accept any net financial benefits or profit from our business in Russia.
Following the previously announced strategic review of our operations, we have concluded that HEINEKEN’s ownership of the business in Russia is no longer sustainable nor viable in the current environment. As a result, we have decided to leave Russia.
We aim for an orderly transfer of our business to a new owner in full compliance with international and local laws. To ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of our employees and to minimise the risk of nationalisation, we concluded that it is essential that we continue with the recently reduced operations during this transition period.
In all circumstances we guarantee the salaries of our 1,800 employees will be paid to the end of 2022 and will do our utmost to safeguard their future employment.
We will not profit from any transfer of ownership and we expect an impairment and other non-cash exceptional charges of approximately
Upon completion of the transfer HEINEKEN will no longer have a presence in Russia.
We continue to hope that a path to a peaceful outcome emerges in the near term.
ENDS
Press enquiries
Sarah Backhouse / Michael Fuchs
E-mail: pressoffice@heineken.com
Tel: +31-20-5239-355
Investor and analyst enquiries
Federico Castillo Martinez / Robin Achten / Anna Nawrocka
E-mail: investors@heineken.com
Tel: +31-20-5239-590
About HEINEKEN
HEINEKEN is the world's most international brewer. It is the leading developer and marketer of premium and non-alcoholic beer and cider brands. Led by the Heineken® brand, the Group has a portfolio of more than 300 international, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders. We are committed to innovation, long-term brand investment, disciplined sales execution and focused cost management. Through "Brew a Better World", sustainability is embedded in the business. HEINEKEN has a well-balanced geographic footprint with leadership positions in both developed and developing markets. We employ over 82,000 employees and operate breweries, malteries, cider plants and other production facilities in more than 70 countries. Heineken N.V. and Heineken Holding N.V. shares trade on the Euronext in Amsterdam. Prices for the ordinary shares may be accessed on Bloomberg under the symbols HEIA NA and HEIO NA and on Reuters under HEIN.AS and HEIO.AS. HEINEKEN has two sponsored level 1 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programmes: Heineken N.V.
(OTCQX: HEINY) and Heineken Holding N.V. (OTCQX: HKHHY). Most recent information is available on our Company's website and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram.
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