Poland: Sales of SABMiller’s Tyskie beer brand tripled

SABMiller, has announced that British sales of Tyskie, Poland’s bestselling beer, had more than tripled in the six months to March compared with the same period last year, media posted on August 27th.

It would appear that the influx of Polish workers to Britain since the Central European country’s admission to the EU in 2004 has sparked this boom in sales.

The company said that annual sales of Tyskie and Lech, its premium Polish beer, had risen to more than 100,000 hectolitres in the UK and Ireland, equivalent to 17.6 million pints, since their launch here two years ago.

The news came as SABMiller reported a 20 per cent jump in comparable pretax profits to $3.15 billion (£1.59 billion), from revenue up 22 per cent at $18.62 billion. Comparable lager volumes rose by 10 per cent, despite difficult trading conditions in America where commodity costs, declining Miller Lite volumes and price competition ate into profits.

The group said that it expected the rising price of aluminium, energy, grain and glass to add up to $200 million to costs in the current year, which it hopes to mitigate by cost-cutting and prices rises.

29 August, 2007