Changes in the composition of the Heineken Holding N.V. Management Board

Heineken announced that in accordance with the wishes of Mr A. H. Heineken, who died on 3 January this year, the Management Board of Heineken Holding N.V. has appointed Mr M. Das to succeed Mr A. H. Heineken as chairman of the Management Board of Hein-eken Holding N.V. Mr Heineken’s daughter, Mrs C. L. de Carvalho-Heineken has succeeded her father as delegate member. Mr K. Vuursteen, who retired as chairman of the Executive Board of Heineken N.V., has been appointed member of the Management Board of Heineken Holding N.V. He succeeds Mr J.M. de Jong, who has been appointed member of the Supervisory Board of Heineken N.V. The composition of the Management Board of Heineken Holding N.V. is as follows: M. Das, chairman, C. L. de Carvalho-Heineken, delegate member, D. P. Hoyer, K. Vuursteen.

Beck’s in a clear bottle

Miracles happen. And pigs can fly. Those who have for years listened to Beck’s technical staff wax lyrically over how to brew beer according to the German purity laws will probably rub their eyes in wonderment at the latest packaging innovation coming out of Bremen: Not in a green bottle but in a clear bottle will Beck’s Gold be sold to Germany’s on-trade. Needless to add that the beer is brewed in accordance with the purity law and is packaged in a clear glass bottle with an "integrated UV-filter".

We want more

Interbrew’s appetite in Germany is far from satiated. According to a company spokesman, there were opportunities for Interbrew to acquire more breweries in Germany. The bedding down of last year’s acquisitions of Diebels and Beck’s will require laying off 60 members of staff of a combined workforce of 1,800. Both breweries in Bremen (Beck’s) and Issum (Diebels) will remain operational. There is a question mark hanging over the future of Beck’s other brewery, the Rostock brewery, though. The new German division, called Interbrew Germany, will be headed by Beck’s former chief Dieter Ammer. The former Managing Director of Diebels, Dr Paul Bösken-Diebels, will step down, but Diebels family shareholders will retain a 20 per cent stake in Germany’s leading Alt beer brewer.

Mixed beer drinks succeed on German beer market

More than 2 million hl of mixed beer drinks were sold in Germany in 2001 according to the German Brewers’ Association in Bonn.
"Mixed beer drinks create new taste experiences based on beer without moving away from the traditions of German brewers because the beer is, naturarlly, still brewed in accordance with the Purity Law as it has been for almost 490 years", as stated in a press release by Erich Dederichs, press spokesman of the German Brewers’ Association.
More than 90% of beer mixes is shandies, i.e. beer with lemonade, and beer-cola mixes. Novel mixes such as beer with apple juice, beer with flavourings or other substances account for less than 10%.g. to the sale and consumption of beer"..

Deposit on cans as of 2003

As of January 1st, 2003, a deposit of up to €0.50 will go on cans and on disposable bottles for certain beverages. The German Federal Cabinet approved the draft of Jürgen Trittin, Federal Minister of the Environment from the Green Party, on March 20th, 2002. Throw-away packages for beer, mineral water and carbonated soft drinks will then carry an obligatory deposit of €0.25, this will be €0.5 for containers above 1.5 l. Non-returnable packages for wine and juices are being exempted from the regulation for the moment. Major chain stores plan to continue to oppose the measure; the beverage trade welcomed the move.

Binding-Group to become Radeberger Gruppe AG

Old habits die hard. As part of its restructuring programme, Germany’s No 2 brewing group Binding is going to reduce its debt load to nil, take excess capacity off stream and reorganise its portfolio of brands under one umbrella. Now why Binding thinks being free of debt such an important goal - your guess is as good as ours. In any case, Binding hopes to complete its three-year strategy termed "margins rather than volume" this year. With Radeberger having become the group’s most important beer brand, the former holding, Binding Group, will be renamed Radeberger Group after the AGM in July. When Binding reported its 2001 results in May, many wondered if the group was not being made pretty for a sale. In the end every business is for sale, provided the price is right.3 million.8 million hl.

Consolidation to pick up speed

After its decision not to float his company on the stock exchange, Germany’s Karlsberg brewery (not to be confused with Carlsberg, Denmark) has been on the look-out for a partner to buy up to 40 per cent in its domestic beer business. According to Karlsberg’s chief Dr Richard Weber the company was talking to Heineken N.V., Scottish & Newcastle Plc, South African Breweries and Coors Brewing Co about a capital increase. "The contracts should be signed by the end of August," Mr. Weber was quoted as saying.
The injection of hundreds of millions of euros would allow Karlsberg to develop its new beer and designer-drinks unit. In 2001 Karlsberg’s beer operations had sales of €326 million, accounting for some 57 percent of the group’s total turnover, and employed 2,300 people.
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Solid 1st quarter results for Carlsberg

Carlsberg Breweries is going to buy back shares up to the value of DKK1 billion the brewer announced in May on the presentation of its 1st quarter results. Operating profit has tripled to DKK439 million (US$54 million) way ahead of forecasts of DKK238 million.
This has been driven by a significant improvement in Western Europe where EBIT was up from DKK32 million to DKK139 million, especially in Sweden where the beer market grew 4 percent in Q1 2002.
Despite this improvement, analysts complained that EBIT margins in Western Europe remained slim at 2.5 per cent compared with 11 per cent in Eastern Europe - a decline from 13.1 per cent last year due to unfavourable market conditions in Poland and Turkey.4 per cent to date. The outlook for the full year is encouraging..

Enterprise consortium acquires Nomura pub empire

In March, 4,189 pubs owned by Nomura’s Unique Pub Co and Voyager Inns were bought by the consortium including Enterprise Inns for an average £480,500 a pub. Newco, the vehicle set up by Enterprise and its partners to handle the acquisition, automatically becomes the second-biggest leased pub company in Britain, with 4,189 pubs, just behind Punch Pub Co on 4,300 leased pubs.

Hercule preferred hot chocolate Belgium has only 113 breweries. How did it become a beer paradise?

Do you know Hercule Poirot? Perhaps Lucky Luke? Or Manneken Pis? If you do, then you may reward yourself with a glass of Blanche. If you also have an idea what the three might have in common, then you can spoil yourself with a Trappist.

Hercule Poirot - wasn’t that the portly man with the extravagant moustache stuck to his egg-head, who solved the most complicated criminal cases with the help of his little grey cells? Should the name Hercule ring a bell, then you must be a secret reader of your wife’s crime fiction. Hercule Poirot is the world famous detective created by Agatha Christie more than 80 years ago. Those painful years of puberty must have had some benefit apart from straight incisors. Three cheers to you. We know you are Japanese. His case is tragic.

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