Big profits for Becherovka maker

Despite a market that is slumping overall, one of the country's iconic brands - Jan Becher, the maker of Becherovka herbal liqueur - is reporting 16 percent increased profits over the past financial year.

"We are very satisfied, especially with regard to the fact that the situation on the market in this period was very difficult," said Jan Becher CEO Anthony Schofield.

Becherovka, the company's flagship product, saw exports grow 9 percent over the year, according to results released Sept. 1 by parent company Pernod Ricard. In the so-called bitter herbal liqueurs subsector, Becherovka increased its nationwide market share to 32 percent, a 1 percent gain in a market that declined 2 percent overall as compared with the previous year. The company reported 208 million Kč in profits overall for the period of July 2010 to June 2011.

Overall sales of Jan Becher's own products increased 4.6 percent over the previous year, surpassing 10.7 million liters of spirits. Increased exports to Ukraine and Russia are among the factors that lead to growth, Sales Director Erik Čížek said.

The French firm Pernod Ricard bought Jan Becher in 1998, and the Karlovy Vary-based spirits maker serves as national distributor of the company's other products, including Jameson, Ballantine's, Absolut, Chivas Regal and Havana Club. Sales of foreign brands accounted for about 10 percent of Jan Becher's profits. Sales of whiskey grew 20 percent over the past year, with Jameson as the most popular brand. Pernod Ricard controls about 35 percent of national whiskey sales.

Spirits are relatively popular on the Czech market. Whereby beer accounts for about 57 percent of all alcohol consumed in the country, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), spirit consumption outpaces wine at 24 percent and 16 percent respectively.

"Given the market situation remains difficult in the next year, we will focus on strengthening our sales results, activity in export markets and cost-effectiveness," Schofield said.

Slovakia is Jan Becher's leading export market, and neighboring countries provide relatively vibrant markets of spirits consumers, with Slovaks partaking 49 percent of their annual alcoholic intake via spirits, Poles 31 percent, Hungarians 24 percent and Germans 20 percent, according to WHO.

Jan Becher exports to some 35 countries. 

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com