Summer heatwave brings a boost to pub trade
Europe's breweries have kicked into overdrive over the past month as the heatwave across much of the continent has driven consumers in search of a cold beer.
The warm weather also put the heat under brewers' share prices, with S&N, Heineken, Interbrew and Carlsberg all significantly outperforming the European share average during August.
However, the UK pub trade may not have benefited across the board, with the oppressive heat keeping many consumers away from town centres.
The increased demand also put pressure on supply chains, with Carlsberg-Tetley importing additional supplies from Denmark to fill orders.
A C-T spokesperson said: "Sales throughout the summer have been very strong on all our core brands, in particular Carlsberg which is up 40 per cent.
Production at our brewery in Northampton is running at full capacity and extra supplies are being shipped in from Copenhagen to meet demand.'
An Interbrew UK spokesperson said: "Overall forecasts are up, which is good news for the industry as a whole, but this has been driven mainly by take home sales.
"The on trade has been a mixed bag - pubs with gardens have done really well, for example, but a lot of town centre outlets have stopped trading and the nghtclub and venue bar sector has not benefited either. People have generally been drinking more at home.
"On the supply front, there are no problems with stock at the moment. The sheer volume of orders has impacted on the logistics front but Interbrew UK has been less affected than some of our competitors."
Richard Bradbury, on trade sales director for Heineken UK, said: "The anecdotal evidence from within the trade is that pubs with outdoor areas have done particularly well, but on the basis of our sales I'd say everyone has benefited from the upturn."
Mr Bradbury said that with the new premium Heineken growing volumes by about 10 per cent a month this year, during the hottest weeks orders were running at 30 to 40 per cent above that level. "You have to assume that additional demand is down to the weather," he said.
