beverages
Confidence at Sektkellerei Henkell Freixenet
Bottles from Henkell Trocken, Freixenet Cordon Negro and Mionetto Prosecco are available in the Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei. Photo: Sebastian Gollnow / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
Will the champagne corks pop again soon at Henkell Freixenet? The important Christmas and New Year’s Eve business is still pending. Lively demand for Prosecco increases sales.
Clear confidence instead of a corona hangover at the Henkell Freixenet sparkling wine cellar: “In many countries the mood is back and consumption is back,” said the chairman of the management board, Andreas Brokemper, of the German press agency in Wiesbaden.
Due to the positive development, sales and sales in 2021 will be well above the business figures from the previous year. Whether Henkell Freixenet will return to the level of 2019 will be decided in the next five weeks with the demand for sparkling wine, wine and spirits in the extremely important Christmas and New Year’s Eve business.
“A stronger premium buying behavior and a stronger brand awareness runs like a red thread through almost all markets,” said Brokemper, explaining the development of the past months. As a result, sales grow more clearly than sales. The global demand for Prosecco also increased significantly again in 2021. In addition to the noticeable recovery in the catering and tourism industries, Henkell Freixenet is also benefiting from the growing business in duty-free shops and with aviation.
Careful forecast for the end of the year
The manager named the renewed tightening of the corona measures and the possible changes in consumer behavior of people at the end of the year as reasons for the still cautious annual forecast. In addition, there are currently very tense logistics and transport chains. As a result, dealers order their goods very early on. Only in the last few weeks of the year will it become clear whether the supplies for the season will be followed by further orders in the second half of December.
Regionally, the German market developed very stable in 2021, said the management spokesman. In the markets of Western Europe, Italy, France and Spain recorded a noticeable recovery due to the return of tourism. The Eastern European business recorded slight growth. The America region with the USA, Mexico and Brazil is developing dynamically. Business in Asia and especially in Japan, on the other hand, was noticeably weaker in 2021 due to the corona.
Brokemper did not provide a specific outlook for the coming year. However, the management of Henkell Freixenet is very optimistic about 2022. This is also due to a noticeable change in the sparkling wine market with the significant increase in demand for Prosecco worldwide. In the past, sparkling wine was always associated with festivities. “It said: There is definitely something to celebrate – be it a birthday, an exam, at Easter, at Christmas or at a wedding.” In the meantime, however, Prosecco is increasingly being placed between traditional celebration and wine consumption.
Minus last year
In 2020, the entire group of companies had to post a decline in sales due to the effects of the corona pandemic. Revenues fell 7.4 percent to 1.195 billion euros. Without the sparkling wine tax, the decline in sales was 7.9 percent to 972 million euros. Traditionally, the sparkling wine producer does not provide detailed information on profit.
After taking over the Spanish supplier Freixenet, the Wiesbaden-based company claims to have risen to become the global market leader for sparkling wine in terms of sales and turnover. In Germany, the Rotkäppchen-Mumm sparkling wine cellar, based in Freyburg in Saxony-Anhalt, is the number one. According to the company, every second bottle of sparkling wine bought in Germany in 2020 came from Rotkäppchen-Mumm.