Micula brothers produce Real-branded juices

European Drinks, controlled by Ioan and Viorel Micula, has started to manufacture juices for the Real hypermarket network, this being its first partnership with a retailer in view of private label production. Consequently, they become their own competitors, with the hypermarket’s shelves also displaying company brands Frutti Fresh and Giusto. So far, the Micula brothers have used this strategy only on foreign markets, where the retailers’ own brands now account for almost 20% of the company’s foreign business, according to data provided by European Drinks representatives. Deliveries made by European Drinks to Europe can be assessed at 6-10 million euros last year, based on their share of the overall sales in 2007 – 3%. “Because of our extensive bottling capacity, we have also started producing private labels for the Real network, and we are open to other collaborations, as well. We will do this even more on the foreign markets, because imposing our own brands outside Romania requires major investments in promotion,” said Adrian Rotar, general manager of European Drinks.