Interbrew's new CFO

François Jaclot has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of Interbrew as of 15 September. He succeeds Luc Missorten, who left the brewer this summer "to pursue business opportunities outside the company." Jaclot, 54, a French citizen, is an experienced finance professional. Before joining Interbrew he served as Chief Financial Officer, Director and Vice-Chairman of the Management Committee of Suez from 1997 until 2003. Suez is a transnational utilities group, whose core businesses are energy, water and waste services. Suez owns Tractebel, the Belgian utilities company which specialises in electricity, gas, and water and on whose Board of Directors serves ... Baron de Keersmaeker, Interbrew’s former Chairman.

Let's twist and dance

Once upon a time, perhaps 30 vintages ago, when you were invited to a student party you had to bring a bottle. Invariably, everybody brought along a bottle of plonk because why splash out on some decent red if in the course of the evening it would end up

Autumn of discontent

After the long summer break Carlsberg Sverige has initiated negotiations with the union representatives about the possibilities of transferring the production of beer, mineral water and other soft drinks from the brewery in Bromma near Stockholm to both C

Ringnes closes Tou brewery

Beer sales in Norway fell 7.2% during the first half of this year, continuing a trend that began a few years ago. Alcohol consumption in general is rising, but beer is becoming less popular. Grocery store sales of beer declined 7.7%, while bars and restau

Who is carrying the can?

A can of carbonated ice tea will cost you 25c deposit. A can of ice tea without fizz none. While a can of coke has a deposit of 25c on it, a can of coke with enough whiskey added to it does not. By the way sausages or peanuts in tins are deposit-free. RTD

Beating a retreat

Like an eager pupil trying to draw his headmistress' attention, Carlsberg Breweries let it be known that it too was keen to take part in the consolidation process of the German brewing industry. However, while Interbrew and Heineken were busy buying up br

Doing a Hamlet

Though this be madness, yet there's method in it. Or why should Brau & Brunnen's recent shopping spree go uncommented by Germany's media? Many years ago when Brau & Brunnen, which is majority-owned by HVB, one of Germany's major banks, started gobbling up

Waited too long

Will he, will he not? Sell Holsten, that is. Although Holsten’s major shareholder Christian Eisenbeiss (47) declared only weeks ago that he was not going to sell his 48%-stake in Holsten, which is Germany’s number two brewing group (9.8 m hl), pundits bel

On the right track

Carlsberg proved very bullish when it reported its second quarter 2003 results (until 30 June 2003) on 15 August. Its strategic priorities were to achieve market leadership in core markets with the focus on western Europe, eastern Europe and Asia, the sta

Budweiser meets the budget, drives a car, kicks a ball

A growing state budget deficit in the Czech Republic has the Social Democrat government looking for funds anywhere they can - including the sale of the state-owned Budweiser-Budvar brewery, writes Lyle Frink from Prague. Faced with a public sector defici