girlxinh
25-06-2006, 12:16 PM
By Ven Sreenivasan, The Business Times Singapore 9 June 2006
IN a move which could further tighten the Tiger and Heineken brands' grip on the Vietnam beer market, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) and its partners have spent some 31 million euros (S$63 million) to boost capacity at its southern Vietnam brewery by 50 per cent. Vietnam Brewery Ltd (VBL), which is 60 per cent controlled by APB, can now produce produce 2.3 million hectolitres of beer, up from 1.5 million hectolitres. Koh Poh Tiong, APB's chief executive officer, said the expansion would boost output volumes for Heineken and Tiger beer. 'Heineken and Tiger beers together dominate the Vietnam premium beer segment with 85 per cent market share,' he said. 'In the past decade, APB has invested strongly in growing the brands to reach the status where they are today.
'With the additional capacity now in place at VBL, it will make it technically feasible for us to continue to build on the success of these brands by driving higher volumes and, more importantly, upholding their leadership position in the premium beer segment,' he added. Using Vietnam as its base, APB has been aggressively expanding its reach into the young but fast growing Indochina beer market. Heineken has been enjoying double-digit growth and remains a leader in Vietnam's premier beer category. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the single largest consumer of APB's flagship Tiger beer. The latest announcement comes just weeks after APB announced a US$17 million investment in a joint venture in Laos. APB will take a 68 per cent stake in Lao Asia Pacific Breweries (LAPB), a US$25 million greenfield project, which will brew Tiger beer. APB also has breweries in Thailand.
This is VBL's second expansion, and it adds a second bottling line to the facility with a capacity of 50,000 bottles/hour. The latest expansion comes just as it prepares to brew American premium light beer, Coors Light, for the Vietnamese market. VBL, located near Ho Chi Minh City, also produces and distributes Bivina and Amber Stout. Mr Koh said that with the expansion, APB was better placed to meet the rising demands of Vietnam's fast-growing beer market. 'Over the past three years, Vietnam's beer market has been experiencing strong double-digit growth and registered a 17 per cent increase in 2005. 'The strong showing from this robust market has led to APB's Indochina (made up of Vietnam and Cambodia) region leading revenue growth at S$466.7 million for FY2004/05 and recorded S$102.4 million in profit before interest, taxation and exceptional items. This is an increase of 15 per cent and 20 per cent respectively compared with that of the previous year.'
IN a move which could further tighten the Tiger and Heineken brands' grip on the Vietnam beer market, Asia Pacific Breweries (APB) and its partners have spent some 31 million euros (S$63 million) to boost capacity at its southern Vietnam brewery by 50 per cent. Vietnam Brewery Ltd (VBL), which is 60 per cent controlled by APB, can now produce produce 2.3 million hectolitres of beer, up from 1.5 million hectolitres. Koh Poh Tiong, APB's chief executive officer, said the expansion would boost output volumes for Heineken and Tiger beer. 'Heineken and Tiger beers together dominate the Vietnam premium beer segment with 85 per cent market share,' he said. 'In the past decade, APB has invested strongly in growing the brands to reach the status where they are today.
'With the additional capacity now in place at VBL, it will make it technically feasible for us to continue to build on the success of these brands by driving higher volumes and, more importantly, upholding their leadership position in the premium beer segment,' he added. Using Vietnam as its base, APB has been aggressively expanding its reach into the young but fast growing Indochina beer market. Heineken has been enjoying double-digit growth and remains a leader in Vietnam's premier beer category. Meanwhile, Vietnam is the single largest consumer of APB's flagship Tiger beer. The latest announcement comes just weeks after APB announced a US$17 million investment in a joint venture in Laos. APB will take a 68 per cent stake in Lao Asia Pacific Breweries (LAPB), a US$25 million greenfield project, which will brew Tiger beer. APB also has breweries in Thailand.
This is VBL's second expansion, and it adds a second bottling line to the facility with a capacity of 50,000 bottles/hour. The latest expansion comes just as it prepares to brew American premium light beer, Coors Light, for the Vietnamese market. VBL, located near Ho Chi Minh City, also produces and distributes Bivina and Amber Stout. Mr Koh said that with the expansion, APB was better placed to meet the rising demands of Vietnam's fast-growing beer market. 'Over the past three years, Vietnam's beer market has been experiencing strong double-digit growth and registered a 17 per cent increase in 2005. 'The strong showing from this robust market has led to APB's Indochina (made up of Vietnam and Cambodia) region leading revenue growth at S$466.7 million for FY2004/05 and recorded S$102.4 million in profit before interest, taxation and exceptional items. This is an increase of 15 per cent and 20 per cent respectively compared with that of the previous year.'