Warsteiner Brewery, Germany’s major brewer (estimated output 2000: 5.1 million hl) bought a 50% stake in Miller Brands Germany, the independent importer of Miller Genuine Draft (estimated sales volume: 50,000 hl annually) with a reported turnover of DM31 million. Although both companies will continue to operate independently, Miller Brands expects to make inroads into Warsteiner’s 34,000 gastronomic partners in Germany. Miller Brands Germany has been the sole importer of the US beer brand in Germany since 1995.

It seemed like a good idea at the time even though the proposed merger between German brewers Bayerische BrauHolding (Paulaner) and Brau & Brunnen (Jever), which would have created the largest brewing group in Germany, could never shake off the image of a shotgun wedding. Who was wielding the shotgun, we leave to our readers’ guess. In any case, the merger which was announced in July did not come into effect. On 11 September both parties had to admit that they could not agree on criteria for the mutual evaluation. Read: one party would not accept the size of the stake the other wanted in the new company. Watch this space for further news on the fate of the troubled brewer Brau & Brunnen.

The leader in the Baltic beer market is Baltic Beverages Holding from Sweden with a market share of nearly 50%, due to its partnership with local breweries. The positive development in the year 1999 does continue in 2000, too, although it is diminishing a bit. In 1999 Saku Brewery, in control of Scandinavian Beverages Holding, increased its sales in the Baltic market by 4%.

Estonia

The brewing industry reports that the beer consumption in Estonia did increase extremely to a per capita consumption of 61 litres, comparable to the Sovjet era, when beer had been less expensive. There had been a doubling of the consumption since 1992. The leader in the Estonian market is the Saku Brewery with about 50%. A Le Coq sells 1.05 Mio hl in Estonia, i. e..

The Pivovarna Union d.d. ("Union Brewery Inc.") in the Slovenian capital of Lubliana currently has a beer sales total of ca. 1 million hl per year. The brewery has an additional sales of 300,000 hl of alcohol-free beverages, most notably of ice tea, soft drinks and non-carbonated table water.

For about two years now, extensive investment has been made on modernising and extending the capacity of the brewery. Three filling lines for cans, glass and PET containers were delivered and officially put into operation a few weeks ago. In the logistics field, fleet and home delivery were scrapped.

In addition, a high bay storage was built together with Westfalia Systemtechnik GmbH & Co. from Borgholzhausen. The brewery is a joint-stock company.
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Bass claims that it is in no hurry to spend the mound of cash it has been sitting on since the sale of its brewing division to Interbrew. Speculation has Bass linked to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Bass is already the second largest hotel group in the world, owning the Holiday Inn chain (1,515), the Inter-Continental hotels (121), the Crowne Plaza hotels (142) and the Holiday Inn Express hotels (999). Although Bass may be the most global hotelier, having a presence in more countries than any other group, its rooms only account for 4% of the total. Given the group’s intention to double the profit contribution from its hotel division over the next five years, acquisitions of local chains and even one of the large upmarket chains are highly likely.

If Westminster Council has its way, partying will have to come to a close at 1am in the West End, which includes the core entertainment areas of Soho and Covent Garden as well as some other recently designated "stress" areas. Many clubs and bars in these areas currently open until 3am. Outlets outside the West End and the so-called "stress" areas will have to close at 11pm or midnight. This move would run against the spirit of the new licensing White Paper which favours the liberalisation of opening hours. While provincial cities in the UK are keen to create 24-hour cities, Westminster Council intends to turn back the clock to send Londoners and tourists alike to bed early so that all get a good night’s sleep.

Last year they were rivals in the acrimonious battle over who would get Allied Domecq’s pub estate, this year they have formed a joint venture. Whitbread and Punch Taverns have created a £80 million joint venture company to oversee the creation of at least 50 new Travel Inns next to Punch’s pubs. All the 40 - 60 bedroom hotels will be managed by Whitbread. Travel Inn is currently 250-strong and has more than 13,000 bedrooms. Following the AGM, Sir John Banham replaced Sir Michael Angus as chairman of Whitbread.

JD Wetherspoon has overtaken Whitbread’s Brewers Fayre as the biggest pub brand in Britain, says a report from Martin Information, London. Wetherspoon’s total of 407 indicates that it has opened 50 new units this year alone, more than any other single brand and substantially more than its rival the 390-strong Brewers Fayre. However, the Whitbread brand is being overhauled, with the new family-oriented Brewsters sub-brand being introduced into 120 sites, while the other 270 will focus on adult dining. For further information, contact

Scottish&Newcastle’s sale of its leisure division (Center Parc holiday villages and Pontin’s holiday camps), announced in February, has been delayed as the value of the division has slowly dropped to an estimated £700 million. The company said that it expects to make a formal announcement later this summer, blaming a fire at one of the units for the hold-up.
Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) also reported a 5% rise in profits before tax, exceptionals and amortisation of goodwill to £408.6 million for the year ended 30 April 2000. Pre-tax profits after adjustments were £262 million compared with £323.7 million last year. Turnover was up 8% to £3.6 billion, from £3.3 billion in 1999. Earnings per share were 29.9p compared with 38.7p in 1999.4% stake in Spanish brewer Mahou..

For the financial year 1999/2000, ended June, Beck Brewery announced a sales increase for the Beck’s brand of 7.0%. Last year, Beck’s sold 4.4 million hl (1998/99: 4.16 million hl), which represents an increase of 3.3% domestically and 10% internationally. As Götz-Michael Müller, Managing Director Distribution and Marketing said, Beck’s grew above average in Italy, the UK and the emerging markets. In Germany, Beck Brewery increased prices for Beck’s by 6.0% to stop profit margins from further decline. Since July, Lion Nathan has been distributing Beck’s in Australia, following the licensing agreement signed between the two brewers for China.