How Ursus Breweries gained 4% of the market

Ursus Breweries representatives say they did not cut the marketing budget last year, which drove the company to a 32% market share, up 4% from 2008, though sales dropped by 13%, by 80 million litres respectively. During the same interval, the market declined by over 15%. Promotion investments, however, are reflected in a profit decrease, but Ursus officials did not provide exact figures on the decline. “We do not believe in the efficiency of cutting marketing budgets. We see marketing investments as an investment in the future and this is why during a crisis year one must not cut, but boost the efficiency of what one has,” states Andrei Haret, the 39-year old manager of the domestic subsidiary of SABMiller, who will take over the reins of the Hungarian unit of the group in early July. He did not specify the percentage by which the company’s income dropped in April 2009-March 2010 financial year, or the value of the marketing budget for the same period, but mentioned marketing and promotion investments had a relatively similar level with those of 2008. Two years ago, Ursus Breweries had a promotion budget worth more than 70m euros, being the biggest ad investor in the beer industry.