When I was in Stockholm last month for the Beer & Whisky Festival, I questioned a few drinks-savvy Swedes about their government’s plans to sell off V&S, the state-owned drinks company responsible for, among other things, the sales juggernaut that is Absolut Vodka. Given the enormous amount of revenue V&S provides the country, ditching it for a one-time cash infusion seems to me, at best, rather short sighted.
My Swedish friends all agreed. Uniformly, the response I received was, “They won’t, in the long run. Saner heads will prevail.”
That remains to be seen in Sweden, but it does look like a similar thought process has won the day in the Czech Republic, where yesterday the Prague Daily Monitor reported that Budejovicky Budvar, brewer of Budweiser Budvar, the exceptional lager known in certain markets as Czechvar, will not be sold off after all. (Thanks to Jay Brooks for starting my day on such a high note with this report.)
“This is no privatisation,” said Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. What will occur, he said, is a transformation of the brewery into a “joint-stock company,” a process that will take a reported year to year and a half.
The Prime Minister also dismissed widely reported speculations that his advisor, Marek Dalik, had been in talks with American giant, Anheuser-Busch, regarding the privatisation.
This is indeed as good a piece of news as I’ve heard out of the beer biz for some time, as it would seem to guarantee the integrity of a world classic beer for some time to come. Sales of Budvar, by the way, grew by 5% in 2006 to over 1.15 million hectorlitres.
