On Monday, Carlsberg announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Britvic, after two failed offers in June at £2.99bn ($3.8bn) and then £3.1bn ($4bn). It finally clinched the deal with an offer of £3.3bn ($4.23bn).
But while Carlsberg does have an increasing number of non-alcoholic beers and a few soft drinks, they’re still a very small part of its overall portfolio. Its move into soft drinks in the UK is a significant one and illustrates a broader shift from brewers to move beyond beer.
Beyond beer: setting sights on soft drinks
Carlsberg is not the only brewer to look beyond beer. At the base are the numbers. Carlsberg, as a company, has set out plans for ambitious growth: 4-6% annually through to 2027. That’s ambitious because statistics for the overall beer category are far less rosy: in volume terms, the UK beer market declined in 2023. Not only does the category have to deal with consumers spending less as inflation bites: but also increasingly shunning alcohol entirely.
Most brewers are looking at how they can expand their portfolios beyond beer (for Heineken, that includes the acquisition of a hard seltzer brand; for Molson Coors, its about exploring various product categories including functional drinks and energy drinks; and for AB InBev, that varies from wine to kombucha).
Carlsberg is setting its sights on soft drinks: and the UK could create the groundwork for a wider shift across Western Europe.
Soft drinks have always been there as an alternative to beer in a number of drinking occasions. There’s also growth in mixing beer with soft drinks – such as a beer and lemonade shandy – identified as an ‘under-explored opportunity’ for brands to build engagement with consumers and bring in a lower alcohol drink by Mintel (in fact, 79% of all 18-34 year olds are interested in classic mixed drinks, such as shandy).
But then there’s the Britvic portfolio itself. Britvic’s brands include big British names such as Robinsons, Tango and J2O. But it also has an exclusive licence with PepsiCo to make and sell brands such as Pepsi MAX, 7UP, Rockstar Energy and Lipton Ice Tea.
PepsiMAX is a particularly important brand: the zero sugar drink has grown its share of the UK cola market from 12.9% in 2012 to 30.7% in 2023, second only to Coca-Cola. And Carlsberg also eyes up the wider potential of the zero sugar market: which accounts for around 67% of the UK cola market, compared to just 33% for regular cola.
And the PepsiCo tie up is another important part of the acquisition. Britvic’s licence to product PepsiCo products in the UK will be adopted by Carlsberg, which has already had a well-established commercial partnership with the American giant for more than 25 years.
PepsiCo endorsement
PepsiCo has given its endorsement to Carlsberg’s acquisition of Britvic.
“We believe that the combination of Carlsberg and Britvic will create even stronger sales and distribution capabilities for our winning brands in important markets,” said Silviu Popovici, CEO of PepsiCo Europe.
“We look forward to continuing to expand the partnership into further important markets in the future.”
The acquisition will make Carlsberg the largest PepsiCo bottler in Europe. It will also expand the number of markets Pepsi and Carlsberg partner in from five to seven.
And what’s more, more geographical territories could potentially be added in the coming years, says Carlsberg.
Meanwhile, Britvic has also recently diversified into areas such as plant-based milk (with Plenish) and iced coffee (acquiring Jimmy’s Iced Coffee in 2023). Its portfolio strategy seems to be working: revenues in 2023 reached £1.75bn, showing 6.6% year-on-year growth.
Carlsberg will take Britvic’s brands and business and create a single integrated beverage company in the UK called Carlsberg Britvic.
That business will have a portfolio of leading brands across both beer and soft drinks categories.
Beer and soft drinks: a natural combination
Carlsberg sees soft drinks as an important part of Western European markets. In fact, 16% of its volumes already come from soft drinks.
But, in acquiring Britvic – which is entirely in the soft drinks business – it will create a combined portfolio where around 30% of its volumes are soft drinks.
Cost synergies
Carlsberg’s acquisition of Britvic is expected to create £100m in cost synergies, with £80m to be realized by the end of year 3 and the remaining £20m by the end of year 5.
And beer and soft drinks are not so different when it comes to the beverage business: creating synergies and cost savings. The Britvic acquisition is set to be ‘transformative’ for Carlsberg’s UK business, creating a ‘highly attractive multi-beverage supplier of scale’.
Take, for example, the R&D department: which will be able to collaborate and share resources on areas such as sustainability and flavor combinations.
Then there’s the logistics and distribution side: which can benefit from combined warehousing and inventory management, as well as improving the economics or serving smaller customers.
Both beer and soft drinks are commonly served in cans: creating an opportunity for joint procurement of cans and even the ability to potentially run beer and soft drink canning on the same line.
Helping create all the possible synergies is Carlsberg’s agreement, also announced on Monday, to buy Marston’s Brewing Company 40% stake in Carlsberg Marston’s for £206m.
That business was set up in 2020 by the merger of Carlsberg UK and Marston’s Brewing Company. By taking full ownership of the business, Carlsberg will be able to integrate all its UK interests together to create the potential synergies it sees.
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