Troubles abroad
If it had not been for the fierce price wars raging in the Polish beer market, German brewer Holsten’s year 2000 profits would have been significantly higher. With Heineken and South African Breweries challenging each other in the Polish streets (they have a 30% market share each), Holsten never managed to raise its
market share to 5% from the present level of 3.4%. On top of that, Hosten achieved a turnover of DM111m (US$48.7m) and a loss of DM17m in its Polish operations.
In Germany Holsten leads the market with a 10% share having recently bought the König Brewery and a stake in the
Licher Brewery. As a consequence, turnover rose to DM2.31 bn (US$1.0 bn), while profits dropped to DM11.8m (US$5.2m), due to the Polish fiasco and a high interest load. Operating margin was 3..
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