Warsaw Voice - Hoop Buys Woda Grodziska

2 December 2002

Hoop SA, a leading Polish producer of beverages and mineral waters, signed a deal Nov. 18 to buy into Przedsiębiorstwo Produkcji Wód Mineralnych Woda Grodziska, a mineral water producer in Grodzisk Wielkopolski. Hoop SA will finance the transaction from its own pocket.

The purchase of the Woda Grodziska plant, which produces carbonated and noncarbonated mineral water and soft drinks, marks the start of a process of expansion and acquisition of new production plants by Hoop SA. At the moment, the company owns plants in Tychy and Bielsk Podlaski, in addition to leasing a production plant in Iwiny which it plans to take over soon.

Woda Grodziska was until now a local producer of carbonated and noncarbonated waters and Grodziska, Grodziska Dino Cola and Dino Oranżada beverages with a total production capacity of about 14,500 bottles per hour. After taking over the Grodzisk Wielkopolski company, Hoop SA plans to maintain the brand on the market, and through additional investments, it wants to introduce its products onto the national market.

This would enable the company to substantially increase its market share for both mineral water, which is currently estimated at 4.7 percent (Arctic water), and soft drinks.
The takeover of Woda Grodziska is expected to enable Hoop SA to carry out its plans to expand onto the German market. "The company management has nurtured such a plan for more than a year, yet the distance separating the production plants made it difficult to make the final decision," said Marek Jutkiewicz, vice-president of Hoop SA. "In addition to the German market, we are in preliminary talks on the potential takeover of a water bottling plant in Slovakia."
Hoop SA currently controls 11 percent of the Polish carbonated drink market, 22 percent of the Polish noncarbonated drink market and 4.7 percent of the mineral water market, according to data by ACNielsen Polska.

In 2001, the company reported a zl.12.81-million net profit with revenues at zl.330.78 million. In the first half of this year, the company reported a zl.11.71-million profit with revenue at zl.183.25 million.