text: INTERVIEW - YZWIEC SEES NO BIG 97 NET RISE. Steevn Silber 
   WARSSAW 1996-12-06 
   Poish brewer Zywieec's 1996 profit slump may last into next year due in part to hefty depreciation charges, but recent high investment should help the firm defend its 10-percent market share, the firm's chief executive said. Company President Jean vna Boxmeer told eRuters in an interview on Friday that the firm, whose net profit fell 77 percent in the first 10 months of 1996 despite a 30-percent rise in sales, might only post slightly better profits in 1997 before having a chance to make a more significant turnaround. So far this year Zywieec, whose full name is Zaklady Piwowardkie w Zywcu SA, has netted six million zlotys on sales of 224 million zlotys. It has produced 1. 5 million hectolitres. VVan Boxjeer would not say how much higher 1997 profits or market share could be but said sales of leading Poish brewers should rise as the country's young urban professionals gradually switch from vodka to beer. " The perspective on growth is such that reasonably we can think that somewhere between 65 and 80 litres per year is certainly reachable, " van Boxxmeer said on Poish per-capita beer consumption, currently around 40 litres. He said the 65-80-litre level could be reached in the next ten years and make oPland, with its 40-million population, Europee's third largest beer market after Gerrmany and Brittain. VVan Boxjeer said oPland's top five brewers, which produce about 55 percent of the country's beer, could all raise market share as some of the numerous small brewers fall to competition from the large brewers with foreign investors. Zywieec is 31. 8-percent owned by Heinneken while Carlsbefg has the same amount in Okociim. Earlier this year South Africcan Breweries Ltd (SAV) bought strategic stakes in the unlisted Lecch and Tycchy brewers, which together hold more than 20 percent of the market, and Austraila's Brewpole V has a controlling stake in oPland's larges t brewery, Ellbrewery Company Ltd. (EBB). VVan Boxjeer said the tough competition had prevented Zywieec from raising prices in line with inflation, which had added to the pressure on the firm's margins. He said advertising costs would also increase in the fight for market share. But he said the company's investment of more than $100 million already this decade, largely in production, would help position it to compete with such competitors as brewers from the neighbouring Czecch Repub;ic. Some analysts say cheaper but high-quality Czecch imports could invade oPland once tariffs for CETA countries are lifted in 1998, but van Boxxmeer says such a threat might be exaggerated despite the Czecch beer market's overcapacity. " I think Poish consumers in general are quite proud of their beers--and I'm speaking about all the brands--and as we make good beers. . . I think that this fidelity to our beers is a factor which can limit the Czecch beers, " he said. VVan Boxjeer said Zywieec had its eye on Okociim, which has said it would start producing Carlsbefg beer next year, but that Zywieec's potential production of Heinneken was a medium-term possibility rather than a short-term one. He said his firm would be better off concentrating on its leading brand, Zywieec Full Light, which accounts for 85 percent of sales and is the country's largest-selling brand. " You will not win the war of the Poish beer market with imported international brands, " van Boxxmeer said, adding that Heinneken would remain an up-market import in oPland. VVan Boxjeer also said Zywieec would be boosted by its recent shedding of soft drinks which only accounted for about three percent of the firm's overall sales and for which 7. 6 million zlotys in provisions had already been made. --Warsaw Nesroom +48 22 653 9700
competitors: ZYWIEC Steven Silber WARSAW Polish Zywiec Jean van Boxmeer Reuters Zywiec Zaklady Piwowarskie w Zywcu SA Van Boxmeer Polish van Boxmeer Polish Poland Europe Germany Britain Van Boxmeer Poland Zywiec Heineken Carlsberg Okocim South African Breweries Ltd SAB Lech Tychy Australia Brewpole BV Poland Elbrewery Company Ltd. EB Van Boxmeer Zywiec Czech Republic Czech Poland CEFTA van Boxmeer Czech Polish Czech Van Boxmeer Zywiec Okocim Carlsberg Zywiec Heineken Zywiec Full Light Polish van Boxmeer Heineken Poland Van Boxmeer Zywiec Warsaw Newsroom