As expected, Constellation Brands, the diversified US drinks group,
has acquired Australia's leading winery BRL Hardy in a deal valued
at around €1.32bn.
Constellation Brands has confirmed that it is in advanced talks
with Australia's biggest winery BRL Hardy. A merger of the two
groups would form the world's largest wine group, with several
strong New World brands.
Coca-Cola is set to invest around €100 million to expand its
existing beverage manufacturing facilities in India in an effort to
keep up with increasing demand for bottled water and carbonated
drinks.
CL Financial is to acquire a minority stake in the French vodka
group Belvedere just a few weeks after taking a majority share in
Scotch whisky maker Burn Stewart.
Coca-Cola Israel is said to be considering merging its soft drinks
and beer units and then joining forces with one of the country's
leading wine producers, Carmel Mizrahi, according to press reports.
HP Bulmer, the troubled UK cider maker, is to sell its Australian
and New Zealand cider units to CUB, a division of the Foster's
group, for €35.2 million.
Burn Stewart, the Scotch whisky producer, has been bought by
Caribbean company Angostura. The long-expected deal will help boost
Angostura's international presence and reduce its dependency on
rum.
Rexam, the UK-based global consumer packaging company, is holding
aseminar for analysts and investors later today to report on
current global marketing conditions for consumer packaging.
UK flavour and fragrance company Treatt saw turnover increase 11
per cent for the year with a slight dip in pre-tax profit from
£2.83m in 2001, to £2.77m for 2002, the company reports today.
Investment in the USA is paying off.
Polish soft drinks and mineral water producer Hoop has acquired its
counterpart Woda Grodziska, a move which it says will enable it to
step up its plans for expanding to the German market for the first
time.
Coors, the US brewer which acquired the Bass Brewers business in
the UK earlier this year, is to invest £35m in increasing capacity
at its Burton-on-Trent brewery, a move designed to help it meet the
demands of the increasingly important...
Already a major player in the Polish vodka market, French company
Belvedere has strengthened its position there with the acquisition
of the Polmos Krakow distillery, taking its market share to 15 per
cent.
The consolidation of the German beer market continued this week
with Belgium's Interbrew strengthening its position as the
country's leading foreign player, adding the Hannover-based Gilde
brewery to its Beck's and...
Already the world's leading water cooler supplier, France's Danone
has further strengthened its business with the acquistion of the
Canadian firm Sparkling Spring, giving it strong positions in the
UK and the Netherlands...
Cranberry sales for US co-operative Ocean Spray Cranberries may be
booming in Europe but news this week that its CEO of three years,
Robert Hawthorne, has resigned led US ratings agency Moody's to
review a possible downgrade...
Baltic Beverages Holding, the 50-50 joint venture between Hartwall
and Carlsberg, has taken a 76 per cent stake in the Kazakhstan
brewery Irbis - a move which will help improve BBH's already
considerable influence on results...
The acquisition of premium Champagne brand Pommery earlier this
year is already paying off for Vranken Monopole, which saw its
sales rise by more than 50 per cent in the first nine months of the
year.
Interbrew has acquired a 70 per cent stake in a Chinese brewery
based in Zhejiang province, allowing it to build on its existing
operations in nearby Nanjing.
Flavour sales continued to decline in Europe for number one
flavours and fragrances company, International Flavors &
Fragrances, but despite this the overall picture for the third
quarter of 2002 is clearly optimistic and the...
It is barely two months since the world's number one spirits and
wine group announced 9 per cent organic sales growth for the first
half, but Diageo is already warning that growth in the second half
will be harder to achieve.
Significant investment in core spirits and wine brands, plus the
addition of a number of major products such as Malibu and Mumm
Cuvee Napa, helped the world's number two spirit and wine maker to
a 16 per cent rise in sales in...
Nine month results at Belgian brewer Interbrew were helped by a
16.8 per cent rise in volume sales, but like-for-like results were
impacted by the sale of the Carling business in February.
Vin & Sprit, the Swedish producer of Absolut vodka, is to buy
the Polish distillery Polmos Zielona Gora, maker of the Luksusowa
brand, as the sell-off of the former state-run spirits business
continues.
Higher volume food and beverage flavour product sales to existing
customers contributed to a net increase for the third quarter for
flavours company Technology Flavors & Fragrances.
The Brussels authorities has ruled that the acquisition of French
Champagne house by Frere's CNP company will not lead to any
dilution of competition in either the wine or the perfume sectors.
Exchange rate concerns kept nine month sales growth at LVMH to just
2 per cent, but the company, whose brands include Hennessy Cognac,
is predicting further gains for the second half as a whole.
Worse-than-expected performances at home and abroad, and from both
new and existing products, will mean pre-tax profits at UK cider
maker HP Bulmer falling at least £14 million short of expectations
in 2003.
Strong performances in Poland and Russia helped French spirits
group Belvedere to end the first half of the year back in the
black, at the operating level at least. Further restructuring and
acquisitions in Eastern Europe also bode...
The European Commission gives the go ahead to Diageo to sell its
last remaining food-related business, leaving the UK group free to
strengthen its position as the world's leading spirits and wine
producer.
