Development in 2018

Southern Europe comprises Italy, the Lorina business in France and the Terme di Crodo business in the Balkan countries. The acquisition of the Italian soft drink business Terme di Crodo was completed in January 2018, whereas the acquisition of Etablissement Geyer Frères, which markets the unique artisanal French lemonade brand Lorina, was completed during July 2018.

The market environment in Southern Europe has been challenging with increased Italian consumer cautiousness and poor weather compared to last year, whereas, the business in France was positively impacted by good weather.

Royal Unibrew’s volumes for 2018 showed a 129% increase on 2017, whereas net revenue showed a 54% increase. The selling price per volume unit was lower than in 2017 due to lower price per volume for the acquired soft drink portfolios compared to the product portfolio in 2017 consisting of only beer products.

In Italy our business received a major boost with the Terme di Crodo and Ceres integration that comprises of two of the top 10 “must have” SKUs for a wholesale governed marketplace. Tracking on the brands and commercial performances, we see continuous improvements, which add additional value to consumers and customers. During the year, we introduced, among other things, new packaging formats as well as new products such as TonicSoda.

In France, the integration of the Lorina business into Royal Unibrew whilst preserving its strong and proud local artisanal edge, goes according to plan. We are re-setting some important routines, focusing on customer continuity and identifying opportunities to better, every day. The Supply Chain offers identified potential for efficiencies and priorities have been set accordingly.

 

SOUTHERN EUROPE

	2018	2017		2018	2017
	Q1-Q4	Q1-Q4	% changes	Q4	Q4	% changes
Volume (thousand hectoliters)	3,596	3,441	5	857	822	4
Net revenue, beverages (mDKK)	2,381	2,162	10	562	518	9
Net revenue (mDKK))	2,490	2,253	11	594	545	9

 

Profile

Italy

Ceres Strong Ale is among the market leaders in the super-premium beer segment, and Royal Unibrew holds a considerable market share in this segment. We also offer Ceres Red Erik in the super-premium segment, Nørden and Polar Monkey in the craft and specialty beer segment as well as lager type Ceres Top Pilsner and Faxe in the premium segment.

LemonSoda from Terme di Crodo is sold in a niche part of the soft drinks segment. Moreover, we offer the products OranSoda, PelmoSoda, TonicSoda, Crodo Lisiel and Crodo Chinotto.

The Italian beer market is supplied through exports from our Danish breweries, whereas the soft drinks market is supplied from Terme di Crodo’s production facilities in Italy.

France

Lorina artisanal French lemonade is market leading in the growing lemonade category which generates growing interest of its authentic roots with consumers, not only in France.

Lorina also offers brands as PureThé and InFreshhh – with a focus on organic, artisanal products.
Products are produced at the production facilities in Munster in the North-Eastern part of France.