November 16 (SeeNews) - Ursus Breweries, the Romanian arm of UK brewer SABMiller Plc, on Friday said its sales rose by 37% in the first half of the fiscal year on the back of increased production capacity and hot weather in the first quarter.
Ursus Breweries disclosed no profit figures for the first half of its current fiscal year which started on April 1.
Ursus has strengthened its leading position in the premium brands segment with a 20% rise in sales volume, the company said in a statement. The sales of the Ursus Premium brand went up by 15% and those of Timisoreana Lux grew by 67%.
In September Ursus said it launched a 50 million euro ($73.0 million) investment aimed to treble the production capacity of its plant in Timisoara, western Romania, to 6.3 million hectolitres per year.
Ursus produces and sells in Romania the Ursus, Timisoreana, Ciucas, Stejar, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell brands. It employs more than 1,500. The company has four breweries in the country of 22 million people, which joined the EU in January.
Ursus said it had an estimated market share of 24.9% and was the second largest brewer in Romania. The top players on the Romanian beer market also include Heineken Romania, Interbrew Romania, the local arm of Belgian Inbev, and Carlsberg's Tuborg Romania.
Beer consumption per capita was 79 litres last year in Romania, compared to a European Union average of 84 litres.
($ = 0.6849 euro)