For SABMiller, Romania boasted the strongest growth rate last year on European markets, after a 28% advance drove the sales of Ursus Breweries to 4.9 million hectolitres, namely 25% of the market, company data reveals.
"We've enjoyed a very good period domestically, and last year Romania registered the strongest growth rate for SABMiller on any European market. At the same time, the domestic market is fourth in terms of volume and has the same profile in terms of turnover and profit," Alan Clark, managing director with SABMiller Europe, told ZF.
The three most important European markets for SABMiller are Poland, the Czech Republic and Russia, whilst the group owns production centres in 9 European states and carries out export activities across another 7 markets, which generate annual sales worth more than 43 million hectolitres.
Last year, sales on the Romanian market outpaced Italian sales, where deliveries by Peroni producer have remained constant, at around 3.7 million hectolitres, for the past three years. "It's hard to anticipate whether Romania will become one of the top 3 European markets, particularly because it stands behind Poland and the Czech Republic, which boast extremely high levels of consumption, as well as Russia, a huge market compared with the number of potential consumers. At any rate, we will continue hold high expectations for the Romanian market in the future," explains the managing director.
Clark would not provide any information concerning the company's financial results, but specified that volume growth rates, like the one posted in the fiscal year that ended in March 2008 (28%), will be hard to match in the coming years.
"The latest estimates point to a market growth rate of 5-6% this year, but we want to outperform the market, as we did last year," says Clark.
Clark follows SABMiller's protocol and
