Listed since 1965, Guinness Anchor Bhd (GAB) operates the Sungai Way Brewery, which oversees the production, packaging, marketing and distribution of beer and stout in Malaysia. GAB brews, markets and distributes brands such as Tiger, Guinness Foreign Extra Stout, Guinness Draught, Heineken, Anchor Smooth, Anchor Strong, Kilkenny and Anglia. The company also produces the non-alcoholic Malta and distributes imported brands such as Strongbow, Paulander and Sol. Managing director Charles Ireland shares with The Edge Financial Daily his strategies and dreams for the company.
What are the company’s competitive strengths and advantages?
Ireland: GAB has achieved nine years of consecutive growth in revenue, market share and profit. This achievement is made possible through our continued investment and focus in Malaysia, especially in our people, our brands and in uplifting our performance.
People
GAB retains a highly-skilled and performance-oriented team with a staff attrition rate that is significantly below the Malaysian average. About 47% of our employees have been with us for over 10 years. Last year alone, we hired an additional 32 employees and promoted 98 employees within the company.
We are committed to growing our employees and in doing so, we ensure that they are given every opportunity to reach their full potential. We spent twice as much on training and development in FY10 compared to FY08. In FY10, the average hours of training per employee were 47.5 hours.
To prioritise key areas identified in growing and nurturing employees, we developed the HR 7 Pillars which focuses on improving, empowering, motivating and rewarding employees for great performance. The pillars help us to focus on being an employer of choice by creating a conducive work environment that encourages high productivity and creativity.
Brands
We have the world’s greatest portfolio of iconic, international premium brands. We have progressively increased our investments in building our brands, as a result, all our brands are growing:
• Tiger Beer is the No 1 Asian Beer
• Guinness is the world’s No 1 Stout
• Heineken is the world’s No 1 international premium beer
Our success has been driven by our ability to deliver innovative brand experiences to build affinity and deliver enjoyment to our consumers. In April, we organised the much anticipated Tiger Asian Music Festival. Attended by 20,000 Asian music fans, the concert saw 25 biggest acts from seven Asian nations coming under one roof for a 10-hour performance. In 2010, we organised Arthur’s Day in Malaysia for the second time which was attended by more than 8,000 revellers.
We supported the annual Rainforest World Music Festival through Heineken. Besides that, we also had the privilege of bringing the UEFA Champions League Trophy to Malaysia which was greeted by more than 18,000 football enthusiasts.
We also activated other world-class marketing campaigns and consumer promotions such as Oktoberfest and our Chinese New Year campaign which successfully drove incremental sales for GAB brands.
Performance
GAB’s strong performance is a result of extensive application of systems such as total productive management programme which has equipped us with the tools to improve the performance of our people and processes. Such systems have complemented GAB’s work environment where people are consciously and continuously doing their best to deliver world-class standards, reaffirming our standing as a world-class brewery.
The sustained improvements to our performance have allowed us to achieve nine consecutive years of revenue, market share and profit growth. We are also able to deliver strong shareholders’ return with a compound average growth rate of 11.7% over the last nine years.
What have been the major achievements of the company in the past four years?
In FY10, we grew profit before tax by 7.2%. Our strong combination of dividends and gain in share price in FY10 reflects a 32% return for the year. All of our main brands grew — Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Anchor and Kilkenny.
Our excellence in brewing quality is acknowledged by our global brand owners. Guinness has won the Guinness League of Excellence for four consecutive years since 2006, the benchmark for excellent Guinness production standards by third party operations in the world, outside of Dublin, Ireland. Tiger Beer has won the Tiger Quality Award as well as the Tiger In-Market Quality in 2008 and 2009. GAB is the first operating company in the history of the award to win for two consecutive years.
Our efforts to transform GAB into a world-class business have received recognition. GAB won the 2009 Diageo Asia Pacific Market of the Year Award. This award reflects GAB’s consistency and continuous improvements in business performance, brand building, organisational development and community enrichment.
GAB won the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Award (AREA) 2009 and 2010 in the “Investment in People” category for its policies and programmes that show our commitment to providing opportunities to people to grow and reach their potential.
We won the AREA 2009 award in the “Community Engagement” category for its CSR initiatives undertaken by the GAB Foundation that have enriched the community in which we operate and made a positive difference to many. GAB also won the Global Silver Award 2010 for “Workplace Best Practices” which recognises the value of our CSR programmes as well as our outstanding, innovative and world-class products implemented in 2008/2009.
What are the major challenges your company faced over the years and how did it overcome them? Is there anything else you would have done differently?
One of the biggest challenges for the beer industry is escalating production cost with the increase in malt and aluminium prices. As a result, we have no choice but to increase the price of our products to offset increasing input costs.We are constantly engaging in numerous productivity programmes to curtail costs while delivering value to our consumers. We are also determined to deliver the highest possible product quality as demonstrated by the awards we have won.
How is the company positioning itself within the industry? What are your strategies to grow or gain market share?
GAB is positioned as the clear market leader in the malt liquor market (MLM) with an iconic portfolio of premium international brands. We will expand domestically in terms of market share. We aspire to be the employer of choice with the aim of being the best in Malaysia and will deliver excellent returns to our shareholders.
We are committed to transforming GAB into a world-class business and organisation. As such, we will continue to invest in Malaysia through our focus on people, brands and performance.
We continue to invest in our people as we believe that they are our greatest asset and one of the key drivers of our success. Training and development will continue to be a priority for us.
GAB will leverage further on its strong trade and distribution network by continuing to invest and build synergistic partnerships with its trade partners. One of our key initiatives is the GAB Academy, a dedicated programme designed to equip our trade partners with the know-how and skills needed to consistently deliver the best possible food and beverage experience at their outlets.
We will continue to invest in bigger and better marketing campaigns for FY12. Additionally, we will also look into investing in innovation activities and portfolio development such as the introduction of our newly imported beer (Newcastle Brown Ale); new product variant (Anglia Orange & Anglia Grape) and new packaging format (Kilkenny and Strongbow in bottles).
Of the nine years of consecutive growth, the last four have been record-breaking with 2010 marking the best ever performance in our 46-year history. I am confident that our unwavering focus and unrelenting commitment on people, brands and performance will help us deliver another year of revenue, market share and profit growth.
What is your dream for your company? How would you like to see it in 10 years?
Our vision is to be an icon in business, respected the world over for delivering exceptional growth in people, brands and performance. I see our people growing with the company as we continue to develop and nurture them. I see continued growth in our brands year-on-year, offering bigger and better brand experiences to our consumers.
In terms of corporate social responsibility, I see GAB Foundation continuously enriching and empowering our communities. Finally, I see continuous growth in our performance and that we will continue to deliver superior shareholder returns in line with GAB’s strong financial performance.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 25, 2011.
What are the company’s competitive strengths and advantages?
Ireland: GAB has achieved nine years of consecutive growth in revenue, market share and profit. This achievement is made possible through our continued investment and focus in Malaysia, especially in our people, our brands and in uplifting our performance.
People
GAB retains a highly-skilled and performance-oriented team with a staff attrition rate that is significantly below the Malaysian average. About 47% of our employees have been with us for over 10 years. Last year alone, we hired an additional 32 employees and promoted 98 employees within the company.
We are committed to growing our employees and in doing so, we ensure that they are given every opportunity to reach their full potential. We spent twice as much on training and development in FY10 compared to FY08. In FY10, the average hours of training per employee were 47.5 hours.
To prioritise key areas identified in growing and nurturing employees, we developed the HR 7 Pillars which focuses on improving, empowering, motivating and rewarding employees for great performance. The pillars help us to focus on being an employer of choice by creating a conducive work environment that encourages high productivity and creativity.
Brands
We have the world’s greatest portfolio of iconic, international premium brands. We have progressively increased our investments in building our brands, as a result, all our brands are growing:
• Tiger Beer is the No 1 Asian Beer
• Guinness is the world’s No 1 Stout
• Heineken is the world’s No 1 international premium beer
Ireland: Our vision is to be an icon in business.
Our success has been driven by our ability to deliver innovative brand experiences to build affinity and deliver enjoyment to our consumers. In April, we organised the much anticipated Tiger Asian Music Festival. Attended by 20,000 Asian music fans, the concert saw 25 biggest acts from seven Asian nations coming under one roof for a 10-hour performance. In 2010, we organised Arthur’s Day in Malaysia for the second time which was attended by more than 8,000 revellers.
We supported the annual Rainforest World Music Festival through Heineken. Besides that, we also had the privilege of bringing the UEFA Champions League Trophy to Malaysia which was greeted by more than 18,000 football enthusiasts.
We also activated other world-class marketing campaigns and consumer promotions such as Oktoberfest and our Chinese New Year campaign which successfully drove incremental sales for GAB brands.
Performance
GAB’s strong performance is a result of extensive application of systems such as total productive management programme which has equipped us with the tools to improve the performance of our people and processes. Such systems have complemented GAB’s work environment where people are consciously and continuously doing their best to deliver world-class standards, reaffirming our standing as a world-class brewery.
The sustained improvements to our performance have allowed us to achieve nine consecutive years of revenue, market share and profit growth. We are also able to deliver strong shareholders’ return with a compound average growth rate of 11.7% over the last nine years.
What have been the major achievements of the company in the past four years?
In FY10, we grew profit before tax by 7.2%. Our strong combination of dividends and gain in share price in FY10 reflects a 32% return for the year. All of our main brands grew — Tiger, Guinness, Heineken, Anchor and Kilkenny.
Our excellence in brewing quality is acknowledged by our global brand owners. Guinness has won the Guinness League of Excellence for four consecutive years since 2006, the benchmark for excellent Guinness production standards by third party operations in the world, outside of Dublin, Ireland. Tiger Beer has won the Tiger Quality Award as well as the Tiger In-Market Quality in 2008 and 2009. GAB is the first operating company in the history of the award to win for two consecutive years.
Our efforts to transform GAB into a world-class business have received recognition. GAB won the 2009 Diageo Asia Pacific Market of the Year Award. This award reflects GAB’s consistency and continuous improvements in business performance, brand building, organisational development and community enrichment.
GAB won the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Award (AREA) 2009 and 2010 in the “Investment in People” category for its policies and programmes that show our commitment to providing opportunities to people to grow and reach their potential.
We won the AREA 2009 award in the “Community Engagement” category for its CSR initiatives undertaken by the GAB Foundation that have enriched the community in which we operate and made a positive difference to many. GAB also won the Global Silver Award 2010 for “Workplace Best Practices” which recognises the value of our CSR programmes as well as our outstanding, innovative and world-class products implemented in 2008/2009.
What are the major challenges your company faced over the years and how did it overcome them? Is there anything else you would have done differently?
One of the biggest challenges for the beer industry is escalating production cost with the increase in malt and aluminium prices. As a result, we have no choice but to increase the price of our products to offset increasing input costs.We are constantly engaging in numerous productivity programmes to curtail costs while delivering value to our consumers. We are also determined to deliver the highest possible product quality as demonstrated by the awards we have won.
How is the company positioning itself within the industry? What are your strategies to grow or gain market share?
GAB is positioned as the clear market leader in the malt liquor market (MLM) with an iconic portfolio of premium international brands. We will expand domestically in terms of market share. We aspire to be the employer of choice with the aim of being the best in Malaysia and will deliver excellent returns to our shareholders.
We are committed to transforming GAB into a world-class business and organisation. As such, we will continue to invest in Malaysia through our focus on people, brands and performance.
We continue to invest in our people as we believe that they are our greatest asset and one of the key drivers of our success. Training and development will continue to be a priority for us.
GAB will leverage further on its strong trade and distribution network by continuing to invest and build synergistic partnerships with its trade partners. One of our key initiatives is the GAB Academy, a dedicated programme designed to equip our trade partners with the know-how and skills needed to consistently deliver the best possible food and beverage experience at their outlets.
We will continue to invest in bigger and better marketing campaigns for FY12. Additionally, we will also look into investing in innovation activities and portfolio development such as the introduction of our newly imported beer (Newcastle Brown Ale); new product variant (Anglia Orange & Anglia Grape) and new packaging format (Kilkenny and Strongbow in bottles).
Of the nine years of consecutive growth, the last four have been record-breaking with 2010 marking the best ever performance in our 46-year history. I am confident that our unwavering focus and unrelenting commitment on people, brands and performance will help us deliver another year of revenue, market share and profit growth.
What is your dream for your company? How would you like to see it in 10 years?
Our vision is to be an icon in business, respected the world over for delivering exceptional growth in people, brands and performance. I see our people growing with the company as we continue to develop and nurture them. I see continued growth in our brands year-on-year, offering bigger and better brand experiences to our consumers.
In terms of corporate social responsibility, I see GAB Foundation continuously enriching and empowering our communities. Finally, I see continuous growth in our performance and that we will continue to deliver superior shareholder returns in line with GAB’s strong financial performance.
This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, October 25, 2011.
