After the failed merger of Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank, and more recently of Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank, the rest of the world must have come to the conclusion that German companies do not know how to do it.
Amidst collective gnashing of teeth and mutual accusations of "it was you", comes the latest attempt at doing it right. For months the brewers’ grapevine had been a-buzz with rumour that one of the largest beer and beverage groups Brau und Brunnen AG, Dortmund, (BuB) would be sold.
Interestingly, for many years BuB had pursued a rather reckless business expansion strategy as concerns its beer and real estate deals... and out again.
This year matters definitely turned to the worse when BuB in its 1999 annual report reported volume sales of 13... to be continued..

Bikini diet

British food and drinks group Diageo said that its beer division, Guinness, would cut around 100 jobs at its London Park Royal Brewery to improve production efficiency. The West London site brews an estimated 2.2 million hl of draught Guinness stout for the UK market and presently employs about 1,200 people.

Budweiser victorious in the UK

Following legal action running for over 20 years, the London Court of Appeal held that the US Anheuser-Busch brewing group and the Czech Budweiser Budvar brewery may use the Budweiser trademark in the UK. Great Britain, importing 80,000 hl, is one of Budweiser Budvar‘s most important export markets.

Lozenges for the Lion

Although Löwenbräu’s accounts are still in the red, the chief Jobst Kayser-Eichberg has forecasted a "black zero" for the current financial year 1999/2000. During the past financial year 1998/99 beer sales had fallen just below one million hl; turnover declined by DM35 million to DM214 million (US$99.5 million). Löwenbräu which was put under the Spaten Holding three years ago is confident that export sales will pick up again. They had fallen by 15%.

A record high

Germany’s highest mountain, the Zugspitze, rose by 20 meters to 2986 meters on 1 May when HRH Prince Luitpold von Bayern, the owner of Kaltenberg Brewery, and the members of the marketing initiative "Royal Bavarian" put a May pole on the top of the mountain. Well, actually they did not place it right on top - the elements would not have allowed that - but outside the summit restaurant. In any case, the may pole made it into the Guinness Book of Records as the highest May pole ever.

BBAG plans to get the better of Heineken in Central Europe

Brau Beteiligungs AG (BBAG) of Linz, Austria, operates 18 breweries in Austria and in Eastern Europe. To be able to come ahead of Heineken in Central Europe, acquisition of Feldschlösschen-Hürlimann Holding AG, Switzerland, is also being investigated. In 1999, BBAG had their best operating result. Cash flow increased 24.1% to 107.5 million EUR.

... then the bad news

Gordon Brown’s new budget has frozen the duty on spirits for the third year running. All other duty increases are in line with inflation: 1p on a pint of beer, 4p on a bottle of wine, 1p on a litre of cider and 1p on a 330ml bottle of alcopops. A packet of 20 cigarettes now cost about £4.20 (US$6.30), an increase of 25p a packet.

First the good news...

The British Government is set to allow pubs to stay open 24 hours a day, sweeping aside century-old law forcing bars to close at 11pm. Proposals would be put forward at the end of March and would come into effect in 2001. Off-licences would also be allowed to stay open at all hours. Bar licences would no longer be granted by courts but by local councils.

Beer output up

According to a report released by the Slovak Brewers’ Association, beer output in 1999 rose 20,000 hl to 4.41 million hl. Brewers originally planned to produce 5.0 million hl of beer in order to become profitable. Last year, malt production increased 7,500 tonnes to 169,000 tonnes. The continuing decrease in Slovak beer exports remains the most pressing problem facing the industry.

More plastic

Heineken’s French subsidiary plans to expand its range of beers bottled in PET after the success of its non-refillable 500ml bottle. Brasseries Heineken started test-marketing its 33 Export-brand lager beer in PET more than a year ago. At the end of March, Hein-eken will launch a 1-litre bottle for the same beer and introduce a Panaché, a half-beer, half-lemonade drink, in a 0.5-litre PET bottle, which will retail in packs of four bottles.