Icarus
The first half of 2001
that a place had been found for everyone in the new organisation.
We are talking here about a sales force of around one thousand.
That's a whole army!"
The first success of the new sales organisation was quickly
achieved. The loss of volume as a result of the termination of
licences because of the government measures was largely offset
by a strong focus on growth in the sales of Heineken Beer.
Heineken Espana succeeded in almost maintaining its overall
market share. At the same time an in-depth analysis was made of
the horeca market and strategies were developed to ensure
optimum provision of service to that market. One big challenge
still remains: a clear, specific role for the Aguila Amstel and
Cruzcampo brands. Mr del Olmo thinks that both brands are
already complementary to a certain extent, but work is currently
being done to draw up a more refined definition of the
characteristics of the brands and the role that each brand will
play in a highly competitive market.
OCTOBER 2 O O 1
That competition forces Piero Perron to take a cautious view,
despite the excellent financial results after Heineken Espana's first
year of operation. "We had a very good start, but to say that we
are the leader: no. We are number one in volume. In the next two
years we must strongly improve our knowledge of the market, as
well as our customer service. Also, we will have to work hard to
raise productivity and reduce costs."
In Piero Perron's office is a painting by Brueghel, depicting the
story of Icarus. Icarus, the man with wings who flew too close to
the sun and crashed into the sea. Quite surprisingly, the fall of
Icarus is only a small section of the painting. "If the situation gets
very difficult, I look at that painting and then I realise that the
world simply keeps on turning. That was true when Icarus fell into
the sea and it's also true in our situation. In that way I can see any
problems relating to the merger in the right perspective."
Heineken's financial figures of the first half of 2001 show that the
company continues to perform excellently. Net profit from
ordinary activities rose 20% in the first half of 2001, from 249
million to 298 million. Worldwide sales of Heineken beer rose 5%
to just over 11 million hectolitres. The group volume (sales by
consolidated Operating Companies and sales of Heineken Group
brands brewed under licence) reached 37.2 million hectolitres in
the first half of 2001, which is 8% higher than in the
corresponding period in 2000. Heineken Espana, together with
Operating Companies in Italy, Thailand and the United States,
generated most of the growth of Heineken beer. In general, the
performance of Heineken in Spain was excellent. With a 28%
performance increase the result of Heineken Espana exceeded all
expectations.
In a meeting with the press on September 12th, 2001, Heineken's
Chairman of the Executive Board Karei Vuursteen was hesitant to
elaborate on profit expectations. "Based on existing insights
Heineken expected net profit growth for the whole of 2001 to be
at least 15%. However, the dramatic tragedy in the United States
and its impact on the period to come make it impossible to make
a profit forecast."
