On August 9, the Danish brewing group Carlsberg acquired 3 small local Polish breweries, reports the Financial Times. Carlsberg bought Bosman Browar Szczecin and Kaszetlan Browar Sierpc from Germany's Bitburger beverage group at an undisclosed price and claimed it would acquire a majority stake in a third brewer, Browary Dolnoslaskie Piast, next week. The Polish beer market is one of the fastest growing in Europe, with an annual expansion rate of 9.3 per cent between 1993 and 2000. According to Carlsberg, these acquisitions would make it "the undisputed number three brewery in the Polish market" by increasing its market share from 7.2 per cent to about 16 per cent. Heineken and South African Breweries have market shares of 32 and 30 per cent respectively. Danish analysts welcomed Carlsberg's efforts to increase its presence in eastern Europe but they also cautioned about the difficulties of the Polish market. On August 9, Carlsberg also released unexpectedly poor first-half figures. Although pre-tax profit rose 19 per cent at DKr1.56bn (Euro209.66m), it fell short of market expectations of DKr1.72bn (Euro231.17m). Net turnover rose 14 per cent to DKr16.32bn (Euro2.193bn). Operating profit in Eastern Europe rose 37 per cent to DKr459m (Euro61.69m) while in Asia it surged 66 per cent to DKr169m (Euro22.71m). But performance in Western Europe, Carlsberg's core market, was hit by lower sales in Sweden and operating profit fell 7 per cent to DKr847m (Euro113.84m).
