Romania's top two brewers, Ursus Breweries and Heineken, surpassed the 200m-euro mark in terms of sales last year.
The domestic subsidiaries of beer multinationals last year generated cumulated turnover worth 764.4m euros, up 28.1% from the figures reached two years ago. At the same time, the profits derived by the top four players reached 121.8m euros, 22.4% higher against 2006 and triple the level reached three years ago, according to information available on the Finance Ministry's website.
Ursus Breweries, part of SABMiller South-African group, boasted the biggest turnover increase, of 47.7%, last year, 278.2m euros. Heineken Romania, the domestic subsidiary of the Dutch group of the same name, also overshot the 200m-euro mark last year, but by only 7.7m euros, and thus relinquished the top position to its main rival, Ursus, according to the same source. The gap between the top two brewers' turnovers will most likely narrow down this year after Heineken integrates Bere Mures, which was acquired in March. Bere Mures ended last year with turnover worth 53.4m euros and net income worth 12.7m euros, according to Finance Ministry data.
Heineken continues to lead the beer market, but only in terms of income, after the brewer generated net income worth 44.3m euros last year, up 65.2% from 2006, according to Finance Ministry data. At the same time, Ursus Breweries derived income worth 40.4m euros, only 15% higher than in the previous year, when it saw profits worth 35.1m euros.
The second position in terms of income growth is held by the domestic subsidiary of Belgium's InBev brewer, the producer of Bergenbier, which ended 2007 with 188.1m-euro turnover, up 18.8%, and net income worth 31.9m euros, 49.7% higher compared with the figures reached two years ago. The fourth multinational in the beer industry, URBB, last year saw its turnover go up by only 9% year-on-year and reached 90.4m euros, while its net income dropped from 16.3m euros to 5.2m euros.
Out of the 19.4 million hectolitres of beer sold in Romania in 2007, the four multinationals sold 15.5 million hectolitres, up 20.2% from 2006.
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