E-Malt.com News article: 3502

Poland: SABMiller announced on October 21, 2004 that its subsidiary Kompania Piwowarska’s sales in the third quarter of 2004 (July - September) were up on the same quarter last year by an exceptional 16.2%. With sales of over 3.2 million hectolitres, Kompania Piwowarska earned itself the leadership position in the brewing industry in Poland.

Kompania Piwowarska is also the unchallenged industry leader in terms of financial performance. During the past financial year, ended 31 March 2004, the company achieved net profits of over PLN 440 million.

The company believes that its focus on consumers and brands is paying off. Tyskie, the biggest beer brand in Poland and one of the top brands in Europe, continues to occupy the top spot with market share of 14.7% (according to AC Nielsen, September). The brand has been supported throughout the year with the 375th anniversary campaign.

The company has also experienced strong growth of ¯ubr, which is now recognised as the 2nd biggest brand in Poland, and is available to consumers across the whole country.

The summer season also brought important improvements in the performance of Lech, which was successfully re-launched in new green bottles and cans. During the season, Lech was supported with the re-launch campaign as well as the sponsorship of the Olympic Games (Athens 2004).

Investments in capacity, which now stands at 12.5 million hectoliters, have continued. The latest project, announced recently, is the new, 60,000 bottle per hour bottling line for the Bia³ystok brewery, whose capacity now stands at 1.4 million hectolitres. The project cost amounts PLN 46 million, which excludes a further extension of the brewery’s warehousing.

Kompania Piwowarska is part of the world’s second biggest brewing group – SABMiller plc. It has a brewing presence in over 40 countries across four continents and a portfolio of over 100 strong brands and leading market shares in many of the countries in which it has brewing operations. Annual sales reached 137 million hectoliters in the 2003/4 financial year. The company is also one of the largest Coca Cola bottlers outside the US. In the financial year ended March 31, 2004, SABMiller plc achieved net profits of $1.4 billion on sales of $12.6 billion.

The Managing Director of Kompania Piwowarska, since June 2003, is Karl Lippert (43), born in Namibia, formerly responsible for Sales and Distribution of SABMiller’s European operations and the Managing Director of the Hungarian brewer Dreher Sörgyarak Rt, also part of SABMiller. He has been with SABMiller since 1992.


24 October, 2004