Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage on BloggingStocks:

• American Public Education Inc. (APEI) received an analyst upgrade following the Q4 report and guidance.
• Autodesk Inc. (ADSK) traded higher after it reported swinging to a profit in Q4, but revenue declined year over year.
• Blackstone Group (BX) reported adjusted Q4 earnings, compared to a year-ago loss, and postive renvenue too.
• Campbell Soup Co. (CPB) higher Q2 earnings beat estimates, but shares fell on so-so revenue results.
• DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA) lower Q4 earnings beat expectations but net income for the full year rose.
• Garmin Ltd. (GRMN) topped analysts' Q4 earnings expectations but shares fell after it warned of lower margins.

On Tuesday, Heineken announced that its annual profit increased to 1.02 billion euros ($1.39 billion). A year ago, the company banked a profit of 209 million euros. The latest results were helped by a 215-million-euro gain on buying back debt from its U.K. pub operation. Revenue increased 2.7% to 14.7 billion euros, but it fell short of its quarterly figures.

Compared to previous results, Heineken's profit increased 18% thanks to price hikes and cost cuts. These measures helped negate a 5.4% drop in beer volume. The largest volume drop came in Central and Eastern Europe, which saw a drop of 9.3%. Heineken then forecast that the global economic environment is going to bring about lower beer consumption and what it terms "down-trading" in many of its regions in the coming year. In order to offset these problems, Heineken is going to continue its cost-reduction measures. The company added that it will not be able to increase prices at the same rate it did in 2009.

While the merger may not have been a surprise thanks to what is called "global consolidation" brewing world, the winner of the competition was. Femsa Cerveza (FMX) -- brewer of Dos Equis, Sol, and Tecate -- was purchased by Heineken in a deal worth $5.5 billion in stock. Heineken is widely considered a "surprise" winner of the Femsa sweepstakes, as most industry analysts were chalking up Femsa to a purchase by SABMiller.

Heineken already held a stake in Femsa's Brazilian operations and distributes the Femsa brands in the United States. As a result of the deal, Femsa will hold a fifth of Heineken, which equals 12.5% of Heineken N.V. stock; Femsa will also have 14.9% of Heineken Holding.

This post is one of several on business heirs apparent. Let us know in the comments whether you think Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken's heir should take up the reigns of Heineken, and be sure to check out the other heir apparent posts.

It was Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken's father, Alfred "Freddie" Heineken, who built the family business from a small Dutch brewer into Europe's largest brewing empire. A well-known bon vivant, he was friendly with the Dutch royal family, and his sense of humor didn't abandon him even after a three-week kidnapping ordeal in 1983: he claimed that his kidnappers tortured him by making him drink Carlsburg.

On Freddie's death in 2003, his heir apparent and only child, Charlene, became the wealthiest woman in the Netherlands, now worth more than $7 billion. She lives a more low-key life in London with her five children and stock broker, and former Olympic skier, husband. She continues to hold the controlling stake in Heineken, though she hasn't been as involved in the company day-to-day as her father was. She told a family biographer that she intends to keep the business together until her heir apparent, her eldest son, is old enough to take on the mantle.

Sometimes in a period of uncertainty, a look back can provide some perspective. So here are a few highlights from BloggingStocks on March 16, 2007,a year ago today.

• Business & Sports: Oil, Duke, & Notre Dame -- down: What's bigger news, who's in the March Madness or oil dropping below $57 a barrel?
• Will '300' controversy result in higher ticket sales?: Yeah, because this should be the main source of contention between the U.S. and Iran.
• An OPIC to counter OPEC: An Organization of Petroleum Importing Countries? Whatever became of that?
• Harry Potter and the 12 million order: Will the final movie in the Harry Potter series -- er, make that two movies -- generate this kind of excitment? Will anything?
• The CPI Numbers: Wall Street breathes brief sigh of relief: Wall Street could use another sigh of relief about now.
• Time magazine's facelift: Magazines? Is anyone still reading those?
• Microsoft's Ballmer takes more shots at Google: Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) has a beef with Google (NASDAQ: GOOG)? Who'd have guessed?
• Heineken -- the next Starbucks?: Does Heineken still want Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) as a role model?
• CNBC: Blackstone prepping for mega IPO: Remember the days when private equity was king?
• The Story You Didn't Read: Digital killed the TV star: TV is going digital? Seems like I heard something about that somewhere recently?
• Subprime investment opportunities?: Investment banks struggling with the subprime mess? The more things change ...
• JetBlue passengers grounded ... again: Last year it was JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) cancellations; this year it's Southwest (NYSE: LUV) cancellations.

This week the volatile beer industry this saw two new developments in its trend toward consolidation, a trend that has led to continued speculation that it will sooner or later force Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD) to make a major move such as entertaining the notion of acquisition by InBev.

BUD's rival SABMiller (OTC:SBMRY) announced it will bid $1.2 billion for European brand Grolsch NV, at a huge 80% premium. Grolsch is popular in its home Netherlands, but SABMiller believes it has great potential for expansion to other world markets. The offer will become official in January, but stockholders are already lining up in support of the generous terms.

Ironically, Grolsch is distributed in the U.S. by Anheuser-Busch.

Second, beer makers Carlsburg and Heineken are partnering on a $15.1 billion offer for U.K. brewer Scottish & Newcastle, maker of one of my favorites, Newcastle Brown Ale, as well as Kronenbourg 1664. The two plan to divvy up S&N's business, with Carlsburg taking Russian, Eastern European, French, Greek and Chinese operations, while Heineken would end up with North American, U.K. and Indian market products. This deal is opposed by S&N's management.

Can Heineken (Euronext:HEIA) become the beer drinkers version of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX)? That is exactly what the beer company is hoping to accomplish by starting to create a chain of Heineken bars in airports around the globe.

The European beer maker has decided that airports would be the perfect choice for testing out the concept of Heineken bars. On this point I would probably have to agree.

For whatever reason, when people wind up getting stuck in an airport on a long layover chances are they decide to go kill time in the nearest bar they can find. I am not suggesting that this is the best way to kill a couple of hours, but statistically this is the reality of it. Beer is the second most popular drink in airports, second only to coffee.

The first of the Heineken bars showed up in Hong Kong and definitely puts the Heineken brand in full view of every patron that hits the bar. Heineken bar stools, t-shirts, monitors with Heineken ads, Heineken sports events, and more. Heineken will not be the only brand of beer available to buy, but it will be the only brand on tap.