Brewer Heineken booked 12.6% growth in organic net profit to €930m last year. Sales rose 9.6% at €11.8bn. Heineken, which is sold in more than 170 countries, said it expects profit to grow between 10% and 13% in 2007. Heineken sold 11% more beer in 2006, with volumes rising most in central and eastern Europe (19%).

The brewer expects to sell more than one million hectolitres of its Premium Light beer this year. Sales of this product, introduced in the US last year, totalled 680,000 hectolitres. Premium Light is now the second biggest imported beer on the US market, Heineken said. ‘This has been a strong year for Heineken,’ CEO Jean-François van Boxmeer said.