“We’ve seen a positive time for the market since November last year and this is the first time when the consumer confidence indicator, measured on all EU markets rose in Romania,” Tikhonov told ZF in an interview.
The CCI had been a very low level in for 18 months but started to rise slightly after elections. The sales have been going up since November. The trend continued in April, Igor Tikhonov added.
Tikhonov has been running the Romanian operations of SABMiller (Ursus owner) for almost eighteen months now, during which time he experienced a very difficult summer that caused an almost 10% decline of the entire market last year.
SABMiller reports show Ursus Breweries’ production fell by 2%. The financial year of the company ended March 2015, so it included the months when the industry showed signs of recovery.
The winter months were warmer, which together with an increased consumer confidence helped sales, as shown by the financial report. The decline of the company’s sales was lower than the overall market’s, and this means a stronger position on the market for it, the Ursus president said.
The brewer’s portfolio includes Ursus, Timisoareana, Ciucas, Stejar, Azuga, Grolsch, Redd’s, Peroni Nastro Azzuro and Pilsner Urquell. It gained market share last year.
While Igor Tikhonov will not reveal Ursus’ market share, he did say the brewer became market leader. It had market-leading brands on two market segments in Romania (mainstream and premium) in the year ended March 2014 and this year (ended March 2015) added another one, the economy segment. Its market leading brands are Ciucas (economy), Timisoareana (mainstream) and Ursus (premium).
The only segment Ursus does not have a leading brand on is the superpremium segment, where it ranks second behind Heineken.
Ursus Breweries and Heineken have been vying for the top spot by volume on the market for years, while Ursus has been the leader by revenue.
Ursus posted 1.4 billion lei (EUR315 million) revenue in 2013, up 11%, while Heineken posted RON1.1 billion. Ursus has not released 2014 figures yet, while Heineken’s sales stood at RON1.08 billion. (EUR1=RON4.4409)
(English version by Loredana Fratila-Cristescu)