Heineken halts its Egyptian operations
The company, which employs 2,400 people in the region has evacuated its 25 expatriate employees on private planes and asked its local employees to stay home.
It wasn't clear when production will be resumed or what the cost will be to the brewer, Anoeska Vanleeuwen, a spokesman for Heineken told BeverageDaily.com.
SNS Securities analyst Richard Withagen said the country is Heineken's most important market in North Africa, with estimated annual sales of more than €160m ($218m).
However, the impact on the group as a whole is not expected to be too significant.
"Regional volumes and profitability will suffer from the situation, but the contribution to the group is limited, also implying a limited impact on Heineken's bottom-line earnings," SNS added in a research note.
According to reports, chemicals company Akzo Nobel, dairy giant Unilever, Japanese auto company Nissan Motor Co, French building-materials company Lafarge and General Motors Co have suspended their production in the country.
A week of protests
In the past week streams of Egyptians have taken to the streets to protest against president Hosni Mubarak in an attempt tochallenge to his 30-year rule.
Although the protests have generally been peaceful, more than 100 people are reported to have been killed in clashes with police.
The protests began on Tuesday, 25 January, when thousands of Egyptians gathered in Cairo's central Tahrir Square after an internet campaign initiated the event.
Protesters have staged mass street protests on a daily basis in major cities such as Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and Ismailiya.
