Budweiser Budvar accomplished good results in 2009

Budweiser Budvar, N.C.’s 2009 sales reached a total of 1,275,271 hectolitres of beer, which despite a 2.8% year-on-year fall represents a far better result than the brewing industry as a whole. The beer production in the Czech Republic decreased quite significantly last year, exactly by 5.9%. Budweiser Budvar thus increased its share of Czech production onto 6.6% - 7.1%. In spite of the drop in beer sales, the brewery increased its revenues by 1.2% onto a total of CZK 2,041 million. As like the whole economy, beer production was affected by the ongoing global economic recession. The brewery flagship remains the Budweiser Budvar brand, which shares the production by 84.4%. Having been launched on the market in 2007, the Pardál brand has also been advancing well. The nationwide market saw the 11° Pardál Echt Lager launched.

“Despite having to face the economic crisis, we managed to substantially increase the profit and improve our position among Czech producers, in spite of some drop in beer sales. We also strengthened our traditional position of a leading exporter. Furthermore, we managed to invest significant means into further development of the brewery,” Budweiser Budvar’s managing director Jiří Boček assesses the year 2009.

Additionally, the planned profit before taxation was significantly surpassed, amounting to CZK 298.6 million before the bank reserve of CZK 93 million was made. The profit before taxation showed a year-on-year rise by 40%. In 2009, Budweiser Budvar invested CZK 313 million into the brewery’s development. A fully-computerised warehouse worth CZK 87 million, the purchase of crates and kegs worth CZK 64 million and the increase of bottling lines output worth CZK 56 million made the key part of the investment.

Budweiser Budvar has steadily had a very high share of the export – more than 45%, which is the most amongst large Czech breweries. Last year its export to 58 countries totalled 579,947 hectolitres of beer. The export annually dropped by 0.3%, but such a result can be considered a success in the view of the global recession’s conditions. Moreover, the beer export from the Czech Republic decreased by 10.4% last year. Budweiser Budvar’s share of Czech export thus noted a significant year-on-year rise by 3.4% onto 19.1%.

Budweiser Budvar sold 695,324 hectolitres of beer in the Czech Republic, which represents a year-on-year drop in sales volume by 4.9%. However, such a result is better than the fall of the overall beer consumption in the Czech Republic, which amounted to 5.8%.