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Pivara Skopje
Back in 1924, Pivara Skopje was founded as a joint stock company with an annual output of 36,000 hectolitres of beer. In a constant drive for perfection, it has been reconstructed and modernized many times in its seventy-seven years of history, going through many professional and ownership transformations.
At the end of 1998, Balkan Brew Holding Ltd., as representative company of two world leading beverage industries, Heineken NV and Coca-Cola Helenic Bottling Companies SA (CC HBC), became dominant shareholder of Pivara Skopje AD. In 1998, 51% of the shares are owned by Balkan Brew Holding Ltd., (25.5% owned by Heineken and 25.5% by CC HBC), and the rest of 49% are still owned by Pivara Skopje.
Certainly, one of the most important moments in the history of Pivara Skopje has been the privatisation process, which was carried out in several phases. The two major steps were the successful transfer of ownership of its truck fleet; the second step of the privatisation was the transformation of the distribution centres into private companies throughout the country.
The latter enabled Pivara Skopje to create the most efficient distribution fleet, in the capital, and the remaining parts of the country via its 12 distribution centres that took over the role of exclusive distribution contractors for the company. The privatisation process was successfully completed in 1995, making Pivara Skopje AD one of the few companies that have successfully completed the privatisation process in the country.
Since the period of the acquisition Pivara Skopje AD initiated significant investment program, mostly aimed toward technical and technological improvements of the production process, as well as, creating one of the most sophisticated market execution force in Macedonia and wider in the region. The consistent improvements and efforts resulted with a net profit of USD 7.4 million in Y2001.
Today, Pivara Skopje is the leader in the beverage industry in the country, with a market share of 79% in the beer segment. At present, the new fully atomized brew house is being build, the new brewery will comply with Heineken standards, where in the first phase the production capacities will be increased up to 750,000 hl, whilst, in the second phase the capacities will be increased up to 1,5 million hl per year. The current capacities are 1,1 million hl, or 220 million bottles of beer. The new brew house will include local production of Amstel and Heineken brands, which are currently distributed by Pivara Skopje.
In the carbonated soft drinks segment the building of the new Coca Cola Mega Plant will have capacity of over 17 million UC (100 million liters) of soft drinks. The production technology will be state-of-the-art following all Coca Cola standards. Currently, Pivara Skopje has 54% market share in the carbonated soft drinks segment.
Pivara Skopje's success story does not lie only in allowing foreign investment penetration, but more in the creation of stable business before attracting foreign investment; as said above, all major changes were completed in 1990-91, which eliminated major cost contributors in the business, hence, allowing financial stability and growth.
The partnership with Heineken and Coca Cola, had a major impact on securing Pivara Skopje's position on the market, continuing on the road of achieving higher profits, following the company's philosophy, that is, continuous learning and developing the human capital.
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