Ursus shareholders invest 50m euros to boost production capacities

Ursus Breweries, the beer market’s second largest player, which posted turnover worth over 185 million euros last year, will invest 45 to 55 million euros in expanding its production capacities on the domestic market by 2 million hectolitres. From a 3.1 million hectolitres production capacity registered in 2005, the domestic branch of SABMiller is expected to reach over 6.3 million hectolitres by the end of 2008, in the wake of an approximately 100 million-euro investment. “SABMiller has approved investments to increase capacities at Ursus Breweries. We are at the stage of examining our expansion options, although at present, we are not considering either acquisitions or greenfield investments,” said Dieter Schulze (photo), president of Ursus Breweries. According to Schulze, three of the company’s plants, including Buzau, Brasov and Timisoara, could see their production capacities developed. “We estimate the value of the investment for boosting capacities will stand at 45 to 55 million euros. We will make a final decision sometime between September and October,” added Schulze. The significant increase in beer consumption, along with the Romanian beer market being one of the first to reach the average European level of consumption (of around 80 litres per capita) prompted Ursus Breweries representatives to kick off an aggressive expansion programme for production capacities, which started last year. In the past, Ursus Breweries was the only player on the market whose sales slowed down because of production limitations. Company representatives said Ursus Breweries had lost around 5% of its potential volume increase last year, due to limited production capacities.