Beware of averages

In April, Anheuser-Busch Cos. finally reached an agreement with the union representing more than 7,000 employees at its 12 US breweries. The agreement with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters comes 2 - 1/2 years after contract talks reached an impasse and Anheuser-Busch unilaterally implemented terms. Under the new contract, the aver- age Anheuser-Busch employee would make more than $66,000 annually. Total compensation would average nearly $50 per hour. Employees had been averaging about $65,000 a year under the imposed terms, with pay and benefits at about $47 to $48 per hour, a spokesman for the company said. The agreement runs through February 2004.

Disney man to market beer

Charles Oliver has joined Labatt Brewing Co as Vice-President of marketing. Previously he was with Buena Vista Home Entertainment Canada, a division of the Walt Disney Company.

Pilsener Urquell in Canada

Sleeman Breweries have signed a five year contract with South African Breweries to sell, market and distribute the Pilsener Urquell brand. Sleeman Breweries is Canada’s third largest and fastest growing brewery with significant market presence in all of Canada’s major beer markets according to company statements.

Molson to shut Regina brewery

Molson has announced that it plans to close its Regina brewery by March 2002, which will help the brewer to cut costs by a total of $150m a year. In a statement Molson said that it hopes to provide jobs for at least half of the 85 employees currently working at the plant. Small wonder that the unions were not pleased as the announcement coincided with Molson releasing the results for its fiscal 2001 ending 31 March. The company reported profit of $108.4m or $1.82 a share, up 32% from the previous fiscal year. Revenue rose to $2.48 bn from $2.37 bn.

Cintra to set up shop in Portugal

Cervejaria Cintra which currently holds 1.5% of the Brazilian beer market has issued an ambitious five year plan to boost sales both domestically and internationally. There are four breweries in the pipeline with the first one opening near Portugal’s capital Lisbon this summer. It cost US$58m to build and will be able to produce 1.5m hl of beer, 30m litres of soft drinks and 30m litres of mineral water per year. Annual revenue is expected to be US$23m. The other three plants will open in Brazil. Total investment in all four ventures will be in excess of R$400m (US$170m).

High-performance crate washing systems for South America

The Group Cervecería Polar C. A. in Venezuela has installed three high- performance crate washing systems of the German specialist manufacturer Ludwig Bohrer Maschinenbau GmbH at the breweries in Maracaibo in single lane and in San Joaquin in double lane design.

Santa Claus or Christmas?

Genesee Corp., the US’s number five brewer, announced that the management buy-out of its Genesee Brewing Co., led by Chief Executive Samuel Hubbard Jr., would not be completed until December as the buyers needed more time to complete financing. The shares of Genesee subsequently fell US$ 2.25 to US$ 34 in over-the-counter trading. Shares so far have declined 81 % this year.

Word of wisdom

In a recent feature in the Australian edition of Reader’s Digest, Jim Koch, self-styled "Creator of the first craft-brewed American beer", Samuel Adams, gave the following invaluable advice to young entrepreneurs: "Life is very long, so don’t rush to make decisions. Life does not let you plan." Is that what he learned while working for the Boston Consulting Group?

Energy Beer

Did we really need that? Gluek Brewing, formerly Cold Spring Brewing Co. of Cold Spring Minnesota, has announced that it would launch a brand, Hard E, which is supposedly the world’s first "hard energy beer". The malt beverage contains ginseng extract, vitamins A, B, & C, and has a citrus taste.

Gobbling them up

Brazilian AmBev will pay US$ 47 million for the Uruguayan brewer Cerveceria y Malteria Paysandu, which would double AmBev’s stake in the market to 48 %. Only in September, AmBev had bought Uruguay’s brewer Compania Salus in a joint deal with the French group Danone. AmBev will control a 95.3 % stake in Paysandu which produces the Nortena and Prinz brands, and whose brewery has a capacity of 300,000 hl. The malting facility has a capacity of 90,000 tons annually.