EXCEPTIONALLY GOOD YEAR FOR HEINEKEN
CHIEF EXECUTIVE AWARD 1998
FOR APB'S KOH POH TIONG
Heineken can look back on
an exceptionally good year.
Net profit for 1998
was 981 million guilders,
an increase of 29% on
the 1997 figure.
Operating profit went up
by 21% to 1,453 million
guilders.
h^hi
cm Nr Koh
Sales of Heineken Beer increased by 4% to 19.4 million hectolitres. Particularly
in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, Argentina and Thailand the brand
booked substantial growth. Volume sales of the Amstel brand also grew in
1998, increasing by 5% to 7.6 million hectolitres. As a result, Heineken has
strengthened its position as the world's number two brewery. Heineken
expects to report further growth again in 1999.
Executive Board Chairman Karei Vuursteen had the following to say about
the company's strategy: "Our strategy for the future is known. Heineken plans
to continue along the path it took many years ago: a twintrack strategy which,
based on our assessment of the market and our experience, moves us in the
one country to devote ourselves to capturing a leading position in the market
and in another a leading position within the premium segment, in particular
with our Heineken brand, of course.
Speaking of strategy, I would also like to take this opportunity to consider
for a moment the many rumours concerning acquisitions that have been cir
culating recently. I estimate that at least half of you have called us in the past
few months to ask if we were going to take over South African Breweries.
Heineken is a brewing company and not a collector of breweries. Naturally,
we are closely studying developments in all the beer markets of the world, but
that does not mean we want to take over every brewery in the world. That's
not how it works. In the case of acquisitions we look at many factors, for exa
mple future market development, the brand portfolio, distribution. And we
don't buy breweries because they are cheap or because we happen to have the
money to do so.
Some people might think that because we are big, future acquisitions must
also be big. I feel a need to qualify this. Let me put it this way: we can still see
sufficient exquisite small pearls in the world to perfect our already beautiful
string."
Each year the Singapore Business
Awards are presented in Singapore.
In total there are three awards. One
of them is the highly prestigious
Chief Executive Award. The award for
1998 was recently presented to Koh
Poh Tiong, CEO of Asia Pacific
Breweries. The awards were institut
ed by the authoritative Singaporean
newspaper The Business Times.
To gain the Chief Executive
Award, the candidate has to meet a
lengthy list of criteria. As far as
management skills are concerned, the
criteria include: an ability to adapt to
the changing business environment
and standards and to contribute to
the upgrading of managerial skills
and the establishment of a viable
organisation structure. The winning
CEO has to be innovative and be
clearly aware of what is happening in
the business world around him, he
must win the respect of those who
work for him, must serve as an
example for the whole company and
must motivate his personnel. In the
financial area there are a number of
other criteria he has to meet. He
must, for example, make an outstand
ing and sustained contribution to the
company's financial viability and
contribute to an improvement on the
return on the capital invested in the
company. Lastly, the winner of the
Chief Executive Award must have
made a contribution to Singaporean
society. According to the jury, Koh Poh
Tiong complied with these criteria in
every respect.
Koh Poh Tiong, who has been in the
beer business since 1985, emphasises
that his success is also a recognition
of the efforts made by the 7,000
employees of APB. At the presentation
ceremony, which was held on 26
March, he therefore accepted the
award in the name of all APB per
sonnel. In APB's personnel magazine
On Tap he described the great sense of
team spirit that exists in the compa
ny. Asked what makes a person a good
CEO, he replied: "The same thing that
makes any committed employee. It's
the collective desire of all of them to
look beyond the present and to focus
on a vision of where they want to be."
j/ Award
H - winner
Poh
