Annual Report 2001 - Carlsberg Group

68 Financial Review of the Carlsberg Group
On 16 May 2001, Carlsberg Breweries increased
its ownership in the Polish brewery Okocimskie
Piwowarskie S.A. (Okocim) to 50.01%. As
the company is listed, a public tender offer was
made to the other shareholders on 17 May. When
the tender offer expired on 2 July, the company
had acquired another 30.37% of the shares, and
the total stake thus amounts to 80.38%. According
to the Polish Securities Commission, Carlsberg
Breweries’ ownership is not allowed to exceed
75% of the share capital in Okocim and
Carlsberg Breweries therefore has to sell 5.38% of
the share capital, when it is possible without economic
losses. On 9 August 2001, Carlsberg
Breweries acquired 80% of the shares in the
Dutch company Dyland B.V., which owns 98.27%
of the Polish brewery Browary Dolnoslaskie Piast
S.A. (Piast). In December, the remaining 20%
stake in Dyland B.V was acquired. Through Carlsberg
Breweries’ Polish subsidiary, Okocim, an a-
greement was also concluded in August regarding
the acquisition of two other Polish breweries: Bosman
Browar Szczecin S.A. (Bosman) and Kasztelan
Browar Sierpc S.A. (Kasztelan). The plan is to
merge all four breweries during 2002 under the
name of Carlsberg Okocim. When the acquisition
of Bosman and Kasztelan and the final merger
have been completed during 2002, Carlsberg
Okocim will be owned 67% by Carlsberg Breweries
and 18% by Bitburger, Germany. The remaining
shares will be held by minority shareholders.
These acquisitions make Carlsberg Okocim the
third largest brewery in Poland with an expected
beer volume in 2002 of almost 4m hl.
On 6 July, Carlsberg Breweries A/S entered
into an agreement to increase its shareholding in
the Turkish brewery Türk Tuborg Bira ve Malt
Sanayii A.S. (Türk Tuborg) from 2.24% to 50.01%
by acquiring 47.77% of the total share capital
from Yasar Holding. Türk Tuborg is listed on the
Istanbul Stock Exchange and during the statutory
public tender Carlsberg Breweries acquired
another 32.45% of the shares, bringing the total
shareholding to 82.46%. The company is included
in the Group accounts with effect from 1 July 2001.
In connection with the joining of Carlsberg A/S’
and Orkla ASA’ beverage activities, one of the requirements
of the competition authorities was that
one of the integrated company’s three Lithuanian
breweries should be sold. On 8 October, the sale
of the Lithuanian brewery AB Kalnapilis to the Danish
Bryggerigruppen was made public. At the
same time it was also announced that the other
two companies in the Lithuanian market, Svyturys
(with Carlsberg Breweries as the direct, main shareholder)
and Utenos (owned through BBH) were
merged into one company called AB Svyturio-
Utenos Alus. The merger was completed on 15
November 2001. The company is now owned 44%
via BBH and 33% via Carlsberg Breweries A/S.
On 2 November 2001, BBH’s subsidiary Baltika
Brewery entered into an agreement to acquire the
controlling interest in the Krinitsa brewery in Belarus.
The profit and loss account
Operating profit
Operating profit amounted to DKK 3,400m
against DKK 2,087m in 2000. The increase of
DKK 1,313m - or 63% - is mainly attributable to
the inclusion of Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH)
and Ringnes, Norway as from 1 January 2001 as
well as Feldschlösschen Getränke Holding AG,
which was only included with one month in 2000.
BBH showed a marked rise in earnings in 2001
due to considerable sales progress in the Russian
market, stemming from the general market growth
and the company’s increase in market share. Vena
in Russia also showed substantially improved
performance over previous years. Carlsberg
Sverige registered unsatisfactory results for 2001.
This is due to declining sales and substantial