AROUND THE WORLD

Chile – Three Chilean bottling companies are set to form a joint venture to produce branded mineral water and fruit juices under licence from Coca-Cola…UK – Heineken has announced that it is to ditch its television advertising in the UK next year and concentrate on its associations with the UEFA Champions League…

Americas

USA

Rémy Cointreau USA Inc, the American subsidiary of the French-based luxury wine and spirit group, has appointed Thomas F Jensen as new president and CEO. Jensen, formerly executive vice president of sales, will assume responsibilities immediately, replacing president and CEO James R Chambers.

In other news, Heineken USA has confirmed that it will roll out its new light beer brand, Heineken Premium Light, across the USA in March and April next year. The new light beer has already been test-marketed in selected States over recent months. The national roll-out will be supported by a comprehensive marketing campaign featuring television, print, radio, internet and “out of home” advertising media.

Chile

Three Chilean bottling companies are set to form a joint venture to produce branded mineral water and fruit juices under licence from Coca-Cola.

The three companies, Andina, Embonor and Polar will hold stakes of 56.5%, 26.4% and 17.1% respectively in the new joint venture, Vasa. The move will see Andina lose exclusivity of producion on some of the brands, for which Embonor and Polar have agreed to pay compensation.

Mineral water and fruit juices were the fastest-growing soft drinks categories in Chile in the first three quarters of this year, with fruit juice sales gaining 7.4% and mineral water sales gaining 25% year-on-year.

Australia

Foster’s Group Limited has announced that its Q1 performance is “on plan”.

Speaking at the company’s AGM last month, CEO Trevor O’Hoy said the company is expected to meet guidance given in August for 10% growth (in normalised earnings) this year.

It was also reported that plans to integrate the recently acquired Southcorp wine business are said to be on target, or even ahead of schedule.

Europe

UK

Heineken has announced that it is to ditch its television advertising in the UK next year and concentrate on its associations with the UEFA Champions League, the rugby Heineken Cup, and its World Gigs campaign. However, the beer brand will still have a presence on the small screen as it will be running TV break bumpers around match coverage of the Champions League. Heineken’s overall marketing spend will, in fact, be increasing. The brewer also plans to invest heavily in point-of-sale material and a new print advertising campaign.

Meanwhile, The Gin and Vodka Association and HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding their co-operation in tackling alcohol fraud and smuggling issues in the UK. The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is said to be ready to sign a similar MoU with HMRC.

In other news, the G&J Greenall distillery has been severely damaged by fire. In a spectacular blaze thousands of cases of vodka and gin helped to fuel the flames, and local reports suggest that as many as 110 firefighters were needed at the scene.

France

The race is on as five candidates (from an original 15) have been short-listed for the purchase of Lanson International. Lanson is currently 56% owned by the Mora family with French bank, Caisse Nationale des Caisses d’Epargne, controlling the remaining 44%. The short list includes two investment funds, two wine companies and a co-operative. Estimates indicate that Lanson could be sold for around €600m. The house has stocks totalling 53m bottles, and around €400m of debt. Final offers must be submitted by mid-November.

Meanwhile, it’s time for celebration at LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton) with the announcement that revenue reached €9.59 billion for the first nine months of this year, which represents 12% organic growth from the same financial period last year.

Significantly, the wines and spirits division recorded the same level of organic revenue growth, reaching €1.68bn. LVMH says it expects to continue to achieve targeted revenue growth over the remainder of the year.

Asia

Japan

The Brewers Association of Japan has launched a campaign against the high level of alcohol taxes in the country. The association, which consists of five major Japanese brewers, has noted that taxes account for nearly 50% of the price of beer. They believe that alcohol in Japan is taxed roughly 10 times higher than in the US, and 20 times higher than Germany.

The campaign comes at a time when the Japanese Government is considering raising taxes on the lucrative third-beer category, sales of which have rocketed this year thanks to lower tax rates. The Brewers Association is campaigning against tax changes in this area.

India

West Indies-based spirits manufacturer Angostura Ltd has entered into a 50:50 joint venture with Indian Tilaknagar Industries Ltd, which will see Angostura brands launched in India. Tilaknagar will import premium brands like Burn Stewart and Belvedere and market them in India, while the other brands will be bottled at the company’s facility in Shrirampur.

J-V rumours also surround brewing multinational InBev. Market sources suggest that the brewer might be considering a joint venture with the Jaipuria group, a widely-diversified conglomerate which is currently the largest bottler of Pepsi in India.

However many other local brewers have also been rumoured to show interest in forging tie-ups with international brands. The market is currently dominated by market leader United Breweries (UB Group) and rival, SABMiller, and looks set to continue at its current growth rate.

Middle East

Israel

Earlier last month the Dalton winery in the Upper Galilee, Israel, suffered the theft of 37,000 bottles of wine, worth nearly £400,000. In addition to the winery’s financial loss, some wines will have to be discontinued as whole vintages were stolen.

It seems that the thieves knew exactly what to look for as cases were opened to check what they contained.

© db November 2005