Budweiser Budvar Brewery had a successful year

Budweiser Budvar, N.C. had a triumphant business year, having produced a total of 1,424,000 hectolitres of beer, which is 6.2 % more than in 2012. These are the highest annual sales in the brewery’s 118-year long history. During its existence, Budweiser Budvar produced 46.8 million hectolitres of beer, more than half of which (52%) was produced in the last 20 years. Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager remains the brewery’s flagship product, whose sales grew by 9% in the past year.

Furthermore, the brewery achieved record export results last year. In the long term, the brewery has managed to increase the number of countries where its trademarks of “Budweiser Budvar”, “Budějovický Budvar” and “Czechvar” can be used. Besides a bigger volume of export sales, this fact also positively affects the increase in value of the whole corporation. Last year, the brewery exported to the highest number of countries in its history - a total of 65 countries, which is seven more than in 2012. To compare, in 1991 the brewery exported only to 18 countries.  In 2013, the export reached a volume of 763,000 hectolitres of beer, which represented a record result.

“We consider last year’s business results a success, as they were substantially better than the total results of the Czech brewing industry. Moreover, we achieved the best results in our brewery’s history in many parameters,” says Budweiser Budvar’s managing director Jiří Boček. As the data from the Czech Brewers and Maltsters Association indicate, from last January to last October the Czech production of beer decreased by 1.5% while the Czech export increased by 4.6% in the same period.

The brewery’s business activities have been successful for several years. Since 2010, the beer sales have increased every year and its production has risen by 14% in the last four years. “Owing to the long-term trend of increasing sales volumes and stable economic results, our owner expects to develop the corporation further. The supervisory board discussed the brewery’s development concept in the areas of production, business and logistics for the period of 2014 – 2016 and this concept was approved last December,” adds Jiří Boček.

Budweiser Budvar’s beer sales grew by CZK 94 million, reaching a historical maximum of CZK 2,223 million. “We expect the achieved business results to positively affect our corporation’s profit as well as its other economic parameters,”concludes Jiří Boček.

Besides its business, Budweiser Budvar was successful in other areas as well. In 2000 - 2012, 173 lawsuits and administrative procedures were finalised, with 120 of them finishing in favour of Budweiser Budvar and 10 resulting in conciliation or a draw. Last year, this score was improved yet again by a historical victory in a dispute over the Budweiser trademark in Italy, which enabled the beer from Budweis to return to Italy under its traditional name, assuring a sales increase in this country. Lawsuits in Portugal and Great Britain also resulted in victories for Budweiser Budvar. In 2013, Budweiser Budvar also received several significant awards for beer quality, the most valuable being a gold medal for Budweiser Budvar Premium Lager in the Monde Selection competition and a gold medal in the World Beer Awards for special beer Bud Premier Select.

The brewery’s total results were awarded by the Czech and Moravian Brewing Academy and the Beer Friends Association, which both named Budweiser Budvar, N.C. the brewery of the year. The Budweiser Budvar brand’s advertising campaign called “Saying NO makes us what we are” was awarded a Grand Prix in the Louskáček competition as well as a silver EFFIE.

Last year’s most important investment was a can-filling room, which helped to increase the beer sales in cans two fold.