E-Malt.com News article: Europe: SABMiller expands export operations in Europe

SABMiller Plc, the world's third- largest brewer, will set up new Swedish and Austrian export units and expand similar French and Spanish divisions, Bloomberg informed on July 25 quoting the company’s e-mailed statement.

Due to the new subsidiaries, SABMiller will ship beer to almost every country in Europe and more than 100 nations around the world.

The company’s statement shows, its European exports increased 24 percent annually to more than 2.5 million hectoliters (2.1 million barrels) in the past five years and its export market in Europe increased 40 percent by volume in Europe in the past year.

The expansion of the export operations follows the significant success of the more established operations in Germany and the UK. The UK is now SABMiller’s most successful import market, marketing a larger portfolio of brands than any other market across Europe. In the year 2007-2008, Germany alone accounted for 300,000 hectolitres with 200,000 hcl being Pilsner Urquell.

The success of SABMiller’s European export strategy has been attributed to combining a popular international worthmore portfolio with intelligent investment in simple and effective marketing programmes appropriate to each region.

``We are consistently seeking to further establish and strengthen our position in key geographies throughout Europe, not only through mergers and acquisitions, but also through investing selectively in lucrative export markets. We pride ourselves on being an accurate identifier of consumer insights and in turn capturing local opportunities in highly competitive markets,'' Alan Clark, the brewer's European head, said in the statement.


25 July, 2008