Heineken on the beach

The ways of the world are ever changing. What held true yesterday is old hat today. Perhaps the ways of the world are changing even faster at Heineken’s – and only we have not noticed. In August, two weeks before Heineken was to release its half-year results, the Dutch brewer laid on a bash for journalist. Local and foreign journos were invited to a beach party which was to be hosted by Heineken’s CFO, René Hooft Graafland. Ok, it is not all that usual that the chief financial officer gets his own press op. In fact, it is rather unusual.

Innovations galore

While the first beer in Guinness’ Brewhouse series, Brew 39, caused an outcry from Guinness lovers all over the world – even though only the Irish could sample the beer – Guinness’ follow-up, Toucan Brew barely raised an eyebrow.

Make mine a Heineken

This summer Heineken signed a sponsorship deal with the Chelsea football club, which entitles Heineken to pour its eponymous beer in all restaurants and bars at Stamford Bridge stadium until the end of the 2009/10 season. Heineken also sponsors the UEFA Champions League. However, this is the first time Heineken has sponsored a major European club side. Chelsea’s Business Affairs Director Paul Smith reportedly said: “Heineken is the premium beer brand in football and is therefore a natural partner for Chelsea. We are delighted that they have chosen us for their first major club involvement.”

It’s hot under the counter

The recent surge in extra-cold or super-chilled beers has caused many problems for publicans. Brewers must find a universal solution to the demand for

If industries were to follow textbook rules, consolidation in the hop industry should march on just to keep up pace with the brewing industry which is set to form ever larger units. However, were it not for the discrepancy between the hop trading companies’ high equity ratio (on average around 50 percent) and low EBITDA (about 2 percent), which prevents a straightforward valuation, the course of world would follow fiction. Alas, this is not to be and that is why Stephan Barth, hop trader and Managing Partner of Joh. Barth & Sohn in Nuremberg and one of the world’s leading hop marketers, at a recent press conference in Munich said that he expects no takeovers or mergers in his industry for the foreseeable future. “We are all family-owned. We are proud of our tradition. We do not give up easily”, he added.

Carlsberg Deutschland sells its Landskron Brauerei

In an effort to optimise its structures (read: cut costs) Carls-berg Deutschland has sold the Landskron Brauerei in Görlitz, located in the eastern part of Germany to the Dr. Lohbeck foundation for an undisclosed sum. The brewery which was bought by Holsten in 2003 and was later passed on to Carlsberg when Carlsberg took over Holsten, has 75 employees and a capacity of 200,000 hl beer. The Dr. Lohbeck foundation was set by Rolf Lohbeck, an entrepreneur from the western part of Germany. Rolf Lohbeck must enjoy his newfound role as gentleman brewer because he makes his money with a series of residential care homes and several historic castle hotels. He already owns one other brewery in his hometown of Schwelm near Wuppertal, which he and his wife saved from closure in 2000. As both brewery sites are not exactly what real estate agents would call “prime locations”, you would not expect Rolf Lohbeck to have bought them for their land value or to turn them both into nursing homes.

Assobirra, the association of Italian brewers, which has gone through turmoil following the departure of some of its smaller members last year, has decided that a bit of PR on behalf of beer could do their business no harm. Having welcomed two new members to their club, the privately owned Theresianer and InBev (even though InBev does not even have a brewery in Italy), Assobirra launched an initiative under the motto “Birra – gusto naturale” (“beer – the natural taste”). The launch party was held in Milan in July. In support of Assobirra’s initiative, Mario Abis, who heads the Italian market research company Makno, presented recent findings according to which the Italian beer consumer cherishes beer quality above all. Alas, he (yes, beer is a male affair) is also very brand conscious and only chooses labels which appeal to his personality and sense of value.

It cannot have been in the interest of Beck’s or its parent InBev that furious wholesalers had to turn to the media for help. Apparently InBev Germany had underestimated the rising demand for Beck’s beer. During the first half of 2006, the sale of Beck’s increased by an estimated 17 percent. Due to low levels of returnable bottles at the brewery many wholesalers did not receive their quota of Beck’s. Therefore they could not keep their customers happy.

Reports of a death in the bottle pool are wrong, says the Czech Association of Breweries, it’s just that the country’s favourite beverage now goes to market in at least six shapely bottles instead of the previous two, writes Lyle Frink from Prague.

At the beginning of August this year InBev announced the outsourcing of its Western European and Global Headquarters’ business systems and application services to LogicaCMG. InBev’s most recent move is a follow-up of InBev’s intention announcement from February this year to rationalise its information services. It seems that if InBev continues with outsourcing its headquarter’s staff, the only people to work at its glitzy head offices in Leuven will soon be executives and cleaners only. The brewer said that the transfer to LogicaCMG involves about 70 people and covers the countries Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the UK & Ireland, Germany, Italy and France. All staff affected by the decision will be offered the opportunity to transfer to LogicaCMG.