Budweiser Budvar Brewery’s 2017 audited results

České Budějovice, 3rd July 2018 – Budweiser Budvar, N.C. has published its 2017 audited results today. Although the brewery has been on the upper limit of its production and logistics capacities for the third year and some intensive construction works have been under way within the brewery premises, the 2017 plan has been achieved. The volume of the beer sold last year reached 1.547 million hectolitres. The sales structure has changed in favour of Budweiser Budvar's Premium Lager, whose sales grew by 2% year-on-year, being the highest in the corporation’s history. So was the export, which showed a 1.5% year-on-year increase. Budweiser Budvar thus confirmed its position of the second largest Czech beer exporter with a 21.5% share.

“Due to focussing sales on premium beer we managed to increase the average receipts per hectolitre by 2%, which we consider a great success,” says Budweiser Budvar’s managing director Petr Dvořák. The corporation's total receipts for beer sales reached CZK 2,471 million. The receipts were negatively affected by the Czech koruna strengthening after the foreign exchange interventions by the Czech National Bank ended.

The corporation’s profit after tax was CZK 255 million, which is 3.6% down year-on-year. Besides foreign exchange rates, the results of the economic activity were negatively affected by other factors as well. Personnel costs increased by more than 7%, the price of the Saaz hops significantly rose and the transport went up in price. “Given the situation where we are unable to meet orders in full due to limited production capacity, overloaded lines and ongoing staff shortage, it is our priority to implement an investment strategy for developing the corporation,” concludes Petr Dvořák. The volume of investments in 2017 reached the value of CZK 735 million.

The demand for Budvar beer has been exceeding the brewery's production possibilities this year as well with some orders still being turned down. Therefore, investment in production and logistics is continuing. Several important construction works have already been completed. Since April, an automated logistics centre worth CZK 750 million has been in trial operation, while the construction of a new lager cellar has been in full swing. This year, the construction of a new bottling plant and production capacities for the main fermentation will commence. A new brewing room will constitute the final stage of the development plan. Following the completion of all planned investments worth about CZK 2,000 million, the annual brewery production will increase by a quarter to 2 million hectolitres.

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