The following ratios can be derived from this tabulation: Regional developments this year previous year Europe Group funds Other capital employed Group funds Fixed assets Current assets Current liabilities 0.8 0.6 1- 0.9 0.7 0.9 Source and application of funds According to the statement 'Source and application of funds' shown on page 39 of this annual report, the Cash flow (Group profit plus Depreciation) amounted to N.fl. 314 million in 1980. On balance, N.fl. 89 million was raised in Long-term debt, which mainly relates to the N.fl. 100 million issued in the form of 10% Euro-guilder notes, redeemable in full in 1987. N.fl. 327 million was invested in Plants and installations. Of this figure, N.fl. 185 million related to the Nether lands, including N.fl. 132 million at the Zoeterwoude establishment and N.fl. 22 million at the brewery in 's-Hertogenbosch. The investments in France amounted to N.fl. 53 million. N.fl. 32 million was invested in Greece and N.fl. 16 mil lion in Italy. A net amount of N.fl. 54 million was involved in the ac quisition of participations, as explained in further detail on page 11 of this report. The funds applied exceeded the funds received by N.fl. 132 million, so that at the end of the financial year there was a deficit of indebtedness to banker and hold ings of cash and securities amounting to N.fl. 168 mil lion. As a production and marketing area Europe is of great importance to our Group. Developments within the European Community accordingly receive our full atten tion. Numerous matters affect our Group either directly or indirectly. At the end of the year under review the Labelling Direc tive for Foodstuffs came into effect in the European Community. In two years' time this directive will have to be implemented by Member States. This will then re present a further contribution to the free movement of goods within the Community, which we consider to be essential for the further strengthening of our position in Europe. The production, packaging and selling of our drinks v™ in point of fact, have to take place where the optimum results can be achieved from the angle of sound busi ness management. Recent case law by the European Court of Justice regarding the reciprocal recognition of legal provisions concerning merchandise will probably also make a considerable contribution towards this end. At both community-wide and national level measures of a more or less far-reaching nature are in course of pre paration in order to reduce the flow of waste which is the consequence, amongst other things, of drinks packag ing. For environmental, energy and cost reasons we recognize the necessity of restricting the use of packag ing which cannot be re-used in any respect whatsoever, in other words cannot be refilled, cannot be used as base material for new packaging and similarly cannot be used for the generation of energy. A properly functioning system of recycling is in our opi nion the key to the least detrimental solution, i.e. without imposing unnecessary restrictions on the industry and as far as possible meeting the wishes of the trade and^>° consumer. w In certain circumstances the objective can be achieved with returnable packaging. This depends, however, on the geographical situation and the nature of the distribu tion network available. An enterprise such as Fleineken, with many international markets and ramifications, will only be able to operate to a limited extent with returnable packaging. A purely national approach, however, may run the risk of hampering trade within the European Community. We presume the European Commission will take a serious view of its task as guardian of the free movement of trade - also in relation to third countries. During the year under review the European brewing industry, in consultation with the European Commission, has considered the so-called beer supply contracts. 20

Jaarverslagen en Personeelsbladen Heineken

Jaarverslagen | 1980 | | pagina 21