Danone's troubled expansion into the bottled water business
continues to hit the headlines, with news late last week that the
French dairy group was close to selling its stake in its North
American joint venture with Coca-Cola....
Danone's rapid expansion into the home and office delivery (HOD)
bottled water market has given it a global market share to match
that of rival Nestlé in recent years, but the growth has not come
without a price, writes Chris...
Rumours of the death of PET bottles in Russia have been greatly
exaggerated, as plastic continues to be the packaging medium of
choice for both brewers and soft drink producers, writes Angela
Drujinina.
Several major beverage companies plan to begin selling flavored
water early next year, a move that could bost their sales in the
rapidly growing bottled water market, according to a report by the
Associated Press (AP) this week.
Danone, the world's second largest bottled water business, stunned
analysts last week by announcing that it will sell its water
activities in Italy - Europe's largest bottled water market. Kim
Hunter Gordon explores why...
Nestlé Waters, the world's largest bottled water company, is taking
a tough stance on the future of the Perrier mineral water business
- either productivity increases or we sell the company.
The Serbian Privitisation Agency says that all the current bids for
mineral water bottler Knjaz Milos will fail because they are too
low, a fact that is likely to lead to a second round of more heated
bidding. And with interest in...
Serbia appears to be flavour of the month for investors, as the
race to bag the country's leading mineral water bottler, Knjaz
Milos, intensifies following a late but serious bid from Serbian
national and LA Lakers basketball...
The sale of shares in Serbian mineral water bottler Knjaz Milos has
attracted considerable attention from a succession of foreign
companies, with France's Group Danone, Cayman Islands registered
FPP Balkan, Hungarian-based Jaminca...
Thailand's tropical climate has fuelled the country's thirst for
soft drinks, with consumption growing steadily in recent years,
according to market analysts Canadean. Bottled water and
other 'healthy' drinks are...
Italy is western Europe’s biggest bottled water market, with both
the highest overall volumes and the largest per capita intake. But
despite this flood of water, the market is far from reaching
saturation as Italians turn increasingly...
Persuading consumers to pay money for tap water - no matter how
well it is purified and packaged - is a difficult task, but growing
numbers of companies across Europe are successfully doing just
that. The key, it seems, is to focus...
Water coolers are becoming an increasingly important part of office
life in the UK, fuelled by growing consumer awareness of the health
benefits of good hydration and - last year at least - by hot summer
weather. And while the British...
Narzan, one of Russia's best-known mineral water companies, has
received a loan for $12.25 million from the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development as part of a combined equity
investment scheme.
Last year's stockpiling of bottled water in advance of the Iraq war
had a beneficial effect on first quarter sales at Nestlé Waters,
the Swiss-based bottled water group, but meant that this year's
figures showed a significant...
Convincing US consumers to buy bottled, purified tap water at a
premium price may be relatively easy for a company as adept at
marketing as Coca-Cola, but doing the same with the rather more
savvy European bottled water drinker appears...
British consumers are now drinking more bottled water than ever
before, attracted by the healthy image of the product. And it is
this image which is likely to protect natural mineral waters such
as Evian or Vittel from the impact...
France is the home of some of the world's biggest mineral water
brands - Perrier, Vittel, Evian, Volvic, to name just four - but a
new entry into the market early next year is likely to give brand
owners such as Danone and Nestlé...
West European bottled water sales continued to grow last year, even
in mature markets such as Germany, Italy or France, and the hot
summer weather in 2003 is likely to mean a further surge in
consumption. Water coolers, health awareness...
Danone and Suntory are to combine their US home and office delivery
bottled water businesses, a move which will make them the leading
global players and which lays down a challenge to European rival
Nestlé.
CCHBC, the Greek-based Coca-Cola bottler, has continued its rapid
expansion into the bottled water sector with the purchase of
Austria's Romerquelle group for an undisclosed sum.
British consumers are drinking nearly three times as much bottled
water as they were just five years ago - but few drink anywhere
near the recommended daily intake, according to Mintel.
Baltika, the leading Russian beer brand, is to launch its own brand
of bottled water, Khrustalnaya, in a bid to win a share of the
fast-growing mineral water market in Russia.
The need for good quality water from a trusted source is driving
bottled water sales in the Asia and Middle East regions, according
to a new report from Zenith International.
The Asia Bottled Water Association (ABWA) has rescheduled its trade
fair following the World Health Organisation's decision to grant
clearance for travel to Shanghai.
Torraspapel has extended its range of labelling solution in an
effort to muscle in on the ever-growing market for PET bottled
water. The company's new Creaset LWS paper range is said to offer
beverage manufacturers a harder wearing...
Australian bottled water company Neverfail Springwater is reported
to be looking for buyers in Europe, the US and Asia in an effort to
ward off a hostile bid from Coca-Cola Amatil.
A year of acquisitions and growth has helped Nestlé Waters extend
its leadership of the bottled water market in 2002 - a performance
which the company has already continued into the first quarter of
the current year.
Growth rates may have slowed as the UK water cooler market begins
to mature, but the entry of major players Danone and Nestlé in the
last year should give a major boost to the sector, according to
Zenith International.
Wimm-Bill-Dann is to launch its own brand of bottled mineral water
in Moscow and St Petersburg, marking the company's entry into a
market with significant potential.
Increasing awareness of the need for proper hydration and other
potential health benefits of drinking bottled water are driving
market growth in the UK, but there is still a long way to go before
Continental consumption levels are...
Coca-Cola and its Belgian bottler, CCEB, have agreed to acquire the
natural mineral water business of Belgium's Chaudfontaine -
although they will not buy the company's other drinks brands. A
clear sign of Coke's intention...
Despite a decline in consumer spending since 11 September, bottled
water volumes in the mature west European markets continued to grow
last year - and there is no sign of the growth slowing.
With the four major international bottled water groups and a
handful of strong local players all keen to grow sales, the bottled
water market in East Europe has grown strongly in spite of economic
troubles in many markets - and is...
Just a few months after the launch of its distilled water brand
BonAqua in Spain, Coca-Cola has signed a bottling agreement with
Italian water group San Benedetto which will step up the pace of
the brand's introduction there.
Danone and its Japanese distributor Mitsubishi join forces with
Kirin to boost sales of the Evian mineral water brand, a deal which
should also boost sales Kirin's Alkali Ion brand.
Most consumers in the UK do not understand the risks of not
drinking enough water, and that the wide variety of bottled waters
available to them have more differences than simply still or
sparkling. We spoke to Ian Hall of the Natural...
