Strange things do happen

Finally – Heineken managed to sell its Pedavena brewery to Birra Castello of Udine. No price was mentioned. The Pedavena brewery has been on the block for some time so it came as a surprise that Heineken managed to clinch a deal with Birra Castello (output: 500 000 hl estimated), a brewer not exactly renowned for its significant cash reserves. According to market observers, Birra Castello’s technical director left last year because there were not sufficient funds for urgent investments. Be it as it may, the Pedavena community heaved a sigh of relief because Birra Castello promised to save at least 20 jobs (Heineken employed 80 people there). In the mid-term, employment is to rise to 60 to 70 jobs.

Micropurchasing

Reader, be honest – did you know that you could do “micropurchasing”? Apparently, that’s what Heineken’s German joint-venture partner is doing. Mind you, they seem to splash out more than the standard USD 2500 per item which is the threshold of governmentally decreed micropurchasing.

It’s done

It all went according to plan. At the end of January 2006 Pernod Ricard and Fortune Brands finalised the transfer of the Allied Domecq brands, which they had jointly acquired in the split-up purchase of Allied Domecq last year, to Fortune Brands (notably Canadian Club, Courvoisier, Sauza, Maker’s Mark).

Fare thee well

The day after Christmas 2005 InBev announced the departure of its CEO John Brock (57). As his successor InBev introduced the Brazilian Carlos Brito (45), who to date had been InBev’s Zone President North-America.

The Lords of the aisles

The UK’s biggest supermarkets seem to be engaged in vicious price wars, like their counterparts across Europe, in a bid to increase or maintain market share. The “Big Four” chains are Tesco with a market share of 29.8 percent, followed by Asda (owned by Wal-Mart) with 16.5 percent, Sainsbury’s with 15.8 percent and Morrisons with 11.8 percent as of April this year according to research group TNS. In this battle for market share there are no holds barred. Recently the Advertising Standards Authority ordered Asda to stop claiming to be the cheapest supermarket in the UK following a complaint by Tesco.

Heineken’s dilemma

For more than a year now, Heineken Italia has been looking for a buyer for its Pedavena brewery. But in vain. Birreria Pedavena, which was founded in 1897 near the foothills of the Dolomite Alps, has been part of Heineken’s Italian group of breweries since 1974. Until last year, Heineken used to brew its speciality beers at Pedavena. However, in order to cut costs, Heineken decided to close down the brewery at the end of 2004. Unfortunately, finding the right buyer has proven difficult as Heineken did not want to sell the plant to a competitor – potential or otherwise. So far, three brewers have been named as interested parties: Italian brewers Castello and Tarricone, both privately owned, and the Swedish brewer Kopparberg.

Perverse logics

During the first half of 2005 German beer sales in volume grew 0.3 percent. However, when it comes to money – well, in value terms the market declined 2.5 percent over the same period in 2004. As the chart shows, it was not only the beer sales in the discount segment that grew, the discount chains themselves increased their share of total beer sales to 18 percent. The other multiple retailers retaliated in kind by revving up their beer promotions so that the share of beer sales through promotions rose to 17 percent – the highest in recent years.

How to get ahead in advertising

To those budding Coppolas and Scorseses, the König Ludwig Schloßbrauerei Kaltenberg, owned by His Royal Highness Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, will award a prize for the best beer commercial produced by film students. The award, the König Ludwig Trophy, will be presented to the winner on the occasion of the Munich International Film School Festival to be held in November this year. The König Ludwig Schloßbrauerei Kaltenberg has been a generous sponsor of the festival for many years.

The Kozel position

The rollout of SABMiller’s Kozel 11 Medium started this June. Beginning with the on-trade, the new beer has targeted regions where Drinks Union and the above breweries are strong.

One degree better than the rest

In 2002, however, Drinks Union brought back the degree. Drinks Union, a group of regional breweries, made a concerted push onto the national supermarket shelves with a “one degree better” media campaign.