FDBusiness.com

Mahou San Miguel, the 100% family-owned Spanish brewer, and the industry leader in Spain, has announced the best-ever full-year results in the company’s history. Mahou San Miguel’s turnover increased by 3.6% in 2016 to €1.22 billion, the highest figure ever reached. It has also seen a significant rise in its operating profits which stood at €264.9 million, up 2% from 2015, while volume sales grew by 3.9% to 16 million hectolitres, of which 13.5% correspond to beer and 2.5% to water and soft drinks.

Mahou San Miguel continued to establish a strong position in export markets where sales, outside Spain, reached two million hectolitres, accounting for 15% of the company’s overall volume of beer. It is Spain’s most international beverages company, with a presence in over 70 countries and it produces more than 70% of the Spanish beer consumed worldwide.

The UK remains Mahou San Miguel’s key export market, with more than 1,000,000 hectolitres sold in 2016 – a 9% rise from the previous year.

In 2016, Mahou San Miguel increased its global investments to €77.7 million. These focused on the introduction of technological improvements to incorporate sustainability in its facilities, the development of new products and processes, the launch of global initiatives to contribute to promote beer culture, as well as customer support.

The company also focused on employment in 2016, recruiting 218 professionals and increasing its international team by 32%. Today, the company has a workforce of 3,000 employees across eight production centres – seven in Spain and one in India – three water springs with their corresponding packaging plants, two corporate offices and more than 15 commercial delegations. Since 2007, Mahou San Miguel’s increased its global workforce by 50%.

Building Strength in the UK

Mahou San Miguel has been operating in the UK for over 25 years and has secured a strong position in the market, tripling its volume sales in the past decade. With four key brands available in the UK – San Miguel, Mahou, Alhambra and Solán de Cabras – the company has developed a strong distribution network of more than 25,000 taps in the on-trade and a 98% availability in the off-trade. Its brands are present in the UK’s key cities such as London, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Liverpool.

The portfolio is well positioned in the growing UK premium beer sector, which is the largest and best performing market in Europe. Though the overall beer volume sales are decreasing, the market is driven by value from both world lagers and craft beers.

San Miguel, distributed under licence by Carlsberg in the United Kingdom, is the number one Spanish beer in the UK and the most widely distributed draught world beer in the on-trade. In the last year, the brand surpassed the milestone of 1 million hectolitres sold. This can be attributed to the success of its 2015 relaunch which built strong loyalty from UK beer drinkers.