E-Malt.com News article: Poland: Poland’s Kompania Piwowarska confirms its leadership in Polish market

Kompania Piwowarska announced on October 26 that it has been honoured with the most prestigious award in the global beer industry: the Gold Medal and the Champions Award at the Brewing Industry International Awards. Tyskie, the leading brand in Poland, has repeated its success from 2002 as the winner of two outstanding awards – the Gold Medal for the best beer in the lager category with alcohol content of 5.6-6.9% and the Champions Award, the Grand Prix for the best lager beer overall.

The Brewing Industry International Awards have been organized since 1886, and awards granted in the competition are often dubbed the Oscars of the Brewing Industry by professional brewers. This year over 750 beers from all over the world entered the competition. For the first time in the 119 year history of this event, the judging moved outside the UK (Burton-on-Trent) to take place during DRINKTEC 2005, World Fair for Beverage Technology in Munich. As usual, the adjudication was performed by a team of 30 judges from all over the world – head brewers, production executives and quality experts.

The summer of 2005 proved to be enormously successful for Kompania Piwowarska, resulting in the following sales and market share milestones (based on GUS statistics):

In the past three months:
Domestic sales amounted to 3.6 million Hl, up on prior year by 11.5 %;
Market share increased to 38.5%, up on prior year by 2.5%;
The lead in market share over the nearest competitor increased to 5.4%.

In the past six months:
Domestic sales amounted to 6.7 million Hl, up on prior year by 11.7 %;
Market share increased to 36.8%, up on prior year by 2.3%;
The lead in market share over the nearest competitor increased to 4%.
These results not only make Kompania Piwowarska the leading brewer in Poland, but also the fastest growing brewer.

Exports have been growing strongly too. Within the last six months, Kompania Piwowarska exports increased by 70%, with Tyskie representing more than two thirds of these export sales. Its exports are targeted mainly at consumers in the USA, Canada, UK and Germany.

The company’s managing director comments: "One of SABMiller's hallmarks is its relentless pursuit of excellence, in every sphere of its endeavours”, says Karl Lippert, Managing Director of Kompania Piwowarska (since 2003). “However, our strongest focus is on customers and consumers, which is why SABMiller has become one of the largest and most successful brewing companies in the world.”

“The SABMiller culture is as strong in Poland as anywhere else. We are relentless in our pursuit of improvement in all aspects of our business. You can see that in the key areas of consumer marketing, customer service, productivity and product quality. In all these areas, we are the leaders in our industry. We celebrate this, but we are not standing still – we are a restless bunch, always striving for improvement.”

“There are also development areas that are not immediately visible to the outside world, such as management practices and people processes. We are serious in our commitment to our employees, their management and development and our internal culture. Kompania Piwowarska is already great place to work – we now want to become the best employer in the country.”

Kompania Piwowarska’s production capacity currently stands at 12.5 million Hl per year – 5.6 million Hl in Poznań, 5.5 million Hl in Tychy and 1.4 million Hl in Białystok. However, all three breweries are being upgraded in terms of capacity and capabilities.

During the current fiscal year, Białystok is undergoing substantial upgrades – a new brewhouse and cellars, a new 60,000 bottle per hour returnable bottling line and a new warehouse. This will bring Białystok’s capacity to 2.3 million Hl per year (at the moment of the acquisition in 2003 its capacity stood at 800,000 Hl level). A new 60,000 bottle per hour non-returnable bottling line is being installed in Poznań, which is also converting to environmentally friendly gas boilers.

The Tychy brewery will be the focus of capacity expansion next year, with a new 100,000 can per hour canning line and a warehouse extension. A decision regarding a new brewhouse and cellars in Tychy will be taken shortly.The combined value of this investment program exceeds PLN 300 million.

Kompania Piwowarska is the biggest and the most profitable company in the brewing industry in Poland. Several hundred years of brewing experience, modern technology and rigorous adherence to World Class Manufacturing principles guarantee the uncompromising quality of its products. Its brand portfolio includes: TYSKIE, the favourite beer of Poland, ZUBR, LECH, Dębowe Mocne, Pilsner Urquell, Redd's, Dog in the Fog and Miller Genuine Draft. Kompania Piwowarska was established in 1999 as a result of the merger of Tyskie Browary Książęce and Lech Browary Wielkopolski. In 2003, the company acquired Browar Dojlidy. In the financial year ended on 31 March 2005, Kompania Piwowarska achieved a net profit of PLN 481 million on sales revenue of more than PLN 3.3 billion.

Kompania Piwowarska is part of SABMiller plc, one of the world's largest brewers with operations in more than 40 countries. Last year SABMiller sold over 187 million hectolitres of beverages, producing and marketing over 150 beer brands. These include such international names as Pilsner Urquell, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Castle Lager as well as major regional brands such as Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. In addition to beer, SABMiller also owns Appletiser, the international sparkling fruit juice brand, and is one of the world's largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products outside the US. In the financial year ended on 31 March 2005, SABMiller achieved profits (before tax) of $2.2 billion, on sales of $14.5 billion. Recently SABMiller has announced its merger with Colombia based "Bavaria", the second biggest brewer in South America.



28 October, 2005