5 May 2008 - Carlsberg, the new owner of Scottish & Newcastle's Brasseries Kronenbourg last week said that, as part of its new governance structure, the French company is to report directly to CEO Jørgen Buhl Rasmussen during its integration process.
Buhl Rasmussen sees the integration of the Alsace brewer as a challenge. Talking to the French financial press, he said that he wants to grow Kronenbourg’s profitability by 40% in the next 3 years.
He believes that the French company can increase its sales by focussing on high-quality beers, which have been less impacted by consumption drops than regular beers (a 3% drop over the last 20 years), as well as by growing its market share in bars and restaurants, which currently stands at 34%, he told reporters.
Meanwhile, he added that extra efforts will be made to establish Kronenbourg better in the foreign markets. Buhl Rasmussen sees northern Europe and Eastern Europe as possible destinations for the French beer.
The financial press mentioned that the Carlsberg CEO did not disclose any information concerning a possible restructuring of the Kronenbourg, which employs approximately 1,500 people. However, he did not rule out the transfer of some of Kronenbourg’s activities, such as the accountancy department, to Carlsberg’s Poznan site in Poland.
Last month, FLEXNEWS reported that Kronenbourg sold its distributor subsidiary company Elidis to C10, an independent distributor, for 108 million euro.