Heineken Romania posts 9 percent turnover rise in 2009

Heineken Romania saw a 9 percent increase in its net turnover in 2009 on 2008, to RON 896 million, despite a sector-wide decline, the brewer has announced. The Romanian market beer dropped by 13 percent last year, according to Romania’s Brewers Association (Asociatia Berarii Romaniei), hit by the decrease in Romanians’ purchasing power.

“Our performance in 2009 proves that our strategy – to focus on value – is working out. This performance is more valuable in the context of a difficult year, when sales volumes decreased both for the market and for the company,” said Jan Derck van Karnebeek, general manager of Heineken România. He added that the investments in the company’s focus brands and its strategy to concentrate on basic assets have made their contribution to the turnover growth.

“During 2009 we improved our ability to generate liquidities through a careful review of investments, programs for cost management and management of working capital. As for the volumes of sales, they had the same evolution as the beer market in 2009,” added Karnebeek. The brewer’s market shares on price segments remained the same as in 2008, with its performance on the mainstream sector being an exception, posting only a steady increase. According to AC Nielsen 2009 data, the super premium segment had a 9 percent market share, premium 11.3 percent, mainstream 38.1 percent, economy 38.9 percent, and alcohol-free beer 2.7 percent.

PET and can packaging saw gradual increases in their market share, while bottle and KEG packages registered a gradual decrease last year on 2008. As a result, according to AC Nielsen, in 2009 the beer bottle segment had a market share of 37.3 percent, PET 46.1 percent, can 14.3 percent and keg 2.3 percent.

The product portfolio of Heineken Romania spans the sectors, including Heineken, Ciuc Premium, Golden Brau, Neumarkt, Bucegi, Edelweiss and Zipfer (both imports), Gösser, Schlossgold, Silva, Gambrinus, Harghita and Hategana. It has breweries in Miercurea Ciuc, Targu Mures, Craiova and Constanta, with 1,100 employees.

Read more about

Air Show in Bucharest on Saturday for Aviation Day: dozens of military aircraft to fly over Aviatorilor Square

read more

Anda Dragan