Demand for zero alcohol beers and higher prices helped boost first quarter revenues at Heineken by 7.2 percent to €8.2billion (£7billion), with volumes also increasing around the world.

It said that volumes or the amount of beer it sold increased 4.7 percent, with its Heineken 0.0 producing high teens percentage growth, while its namesake signature lager saw a 12.9 percent increase in volumes. Its premium beers, which include the likes of Birra Moretti and Kingfisher Ultra, increased by 7.3 percent.

The beer giant said that while it had made a “solid start to the year”, it could not forecast how its revenues will grow throughout the rest of 2024. It added: “Heineken continues to see the economic environment as challenging and uncertain.”

However, it did say that it expects to see low to high single digits profits growth this year.

Elsewhere, Nichols, the owner of soft drink Vimto, said that trading so far this year is going in line with expectations, with strong growth in the UK offsetting weakness internationally, caused by the timing of shipments to customers in the Middle East and reduced volumes in Africa.

It said its UK revenues for the first three months of 2024 had risen by 6.8 percent to £20.4million, with volumes up 4.4 percent. Its international takings dropped 23 percent to £9.8million.