Poland: Grupa Zywiec brewery increases sales by 5.5% in 1H 2006

Grupa Zywiec brewery increased its sales in the first half of the year by 5.5 percent but the net income dropped slightly, Puls Biznesu posted September 07.

In the January-June period, Grupa Zywiec had PLN1.44 billion (EUR361 million) of sales against PLN1.35 billion in the same period of 2005. The consolidated net income amounted to PLN138.45 million, down from PLN142.2 million a year earlier. The group sold 5.07 million hl of beer, or 6 percent more.

“We producer over 10 million hl of beer annually”, Hans von Zon, Grupa Zywiec CEO said.

Last year, the Polish beer market rose 5.1 percent. A year ago the growth rate amounted to 2 percent. Grupa Zywiec CEO believes that this year, the market will grow by 3 percent. The group has the following beer brands: Zywiec, Heineken, Warka, Strong, Tatra and Krolewskie.

(PLN1 = EUR0.251)