Difficult market conditions and bad spring weather helped peg Heineken’s like-for-like first half sales and profit at just under 2012 levels, the brewing group said on Wednesday.

Turnover rose 3% to €10.4bn, but was down 1% excluding acquisitions. Net profit fell marginally to €679m. Operating profit rose 5% to €1.45m but was in line with 2012 on a like-for-like basis.

Heineken said in a statement the ‘economic uncertainty and ongoing weak consumer sentiment is expected to persist across many key markets’.

Despite benefiting from better weather conditions in July and expecting improved volume sales in some developing markets, Heineken ‘does not expect a material change to underlying trading conditions across the majority of its markets’.