E-Malt.com News article: 2339

The German brewer Holsten, which is subject to a takeover bid from Danish brewer Carlsberg, announced on March 15 that it saw its sales in 2003 fell 10% compared to a year before, leading net profits to drop to €3.3m (US$4.0m) from €6.2m in 2002. Like the German beer industry in general, Holsten’s sales were hit by the introduction in January 2003 of a compulsory deposit on disposable packaging in Germany.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA), however, was up 6% to €124.2m as costs of materials and sales activities fell. Holsten said it will reduce the 2003 dividend to €0.24 euro per share from 0.45 euro ($0.55) in 2002.

The Holsten Group’s volume sales of beverages in the first two months of 2004 were 9.2% up on the same period last year. This trend reflects very satisfactory growth in sales of soft drinks and a more or less stable level of beer sales. The Holsten Group is continuing to broaden its range of products sold in reusable packs. At the same time, the new PET filling installation for beer is working at full capacity and will be reinforced by two additional filling lines of the same kind. The Group’s filling capacity for soft drinks in PET bottles is also being expanded.

On 05 January 2004, Hansa-Brunnen AG exercised its option to acquire all the remaining shares in Heemann GmbH & Co KG and Wildsberg Quelle GmbH. This makes it Germany’s second largest company in the mineral water and carbonated soft drinks sector. Sales of non-alcoholic beverages produced and sold in 2003 by the companies now belonging to Hansa-Brunnen AG totalled 11.7 million hl.

Carlsberg Deutschland GmbH of Mönchengladbach, a subsidiary of Carlsberg Breweries A/S of Copenhagen, has circulated a public offer to the shareholders of Holsten-Brauerei AG to acquire their shares at a price of €38.00 per share. The offer expires on 18 March.

If the takeover offer is successful, it is planned to hive off König-Brauerei GmbH of Duisburg and Licher Privatbrauerei Jhring-Melchior GmbH & Co KG of Lich from the Holsten Group and sell them to the Bitburger beverages group. Possibilities for disposal of Hansa’s mineral water business are also being investigated.

The Holsten brewery and the five other remaining breweries will, together with the international brands Carlsberg and Tuborg, then become the centre of the Danish group’s German operations.


16 March, 2004