Ursus, the main brand belonging to South African brewer SAB Miller in Romania and one of the market leaders on the premium segment of the Romanian beer market, is yet to find a place in the company''s international portfolio and still relies mainly on limited exports to the US and Japanese markets.
"At the moment we don''t want to establish Ursus as one of our international brands, though we are exporting a limited amount. We don''t have any export targets yet," says Dieter Schulze, managing director of SAB Miller Romania.
The company owns the Ursus, Timisoreana, Peroni and Ciucas brands. It also sells the imported Czech brand Pilsner Urquell, for which it owns international rights.
A decision as to whether to introduce the Ursus brand in official SAB Miller presentations will be taken next year. Introduction of the brand into the international portfolio of the company would create the first Romanian beer brand on the international market.
Compania de Bere Romania (Romania Beer Company), the maker of Ursus beer, ceased to exist as of yesterday, being replaced by Ursus Breweries. "We have reached maturity in our position as a company after 14 years of activity on the Romanian market.
"We have created a new corporate identity to convey our Romanian tradition. Furthermore, we were obliged by law in Romania to change all names that contain the word ?"Romanian''. We have been thinking about this change for quite a while and were considering a new identity," says Octavian Buzoianu, corporate affairs director at SAB Miller Romania.
Ursus Breweries will function within SAB Miller Romania. Schulze did not disclose the value of the investment allocated to the rebranding operation, saying only, "it wasn''t very significant."
According to SAB Miller officials, their sales on the Romanian market reached 3 million hectolitres for the first time last year, as well as a market share of 24%. stelian.negrea@zf.ro
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