With a turnover reduced by 18% to €8.9m and an operating result (Ebitda) eaten away by almost 40% to €2.1m, the Brasserie Nationale was severely affected by the impact of covid-19 last year.

“2020 was a very difficult, even catastrophic year,” said Georges Lentz, managing director of the Luxembourg family business known for brewing Bofferding beer, on Wednesday morning.

The brewer in March 2020 launched Lodyss, a brand of bottled mineral water which now constitutes its second pole of activities, according to its managing director Frédéric de Radiguès.

20% of production

“Today in Cactus, nearly 30% of market share is already taken with Lodyss in returnable bottles,” said the manager. In total, the National Brewery sold 2.8m litres of its mineral water. In nine months of marketing, it accounted for 20% of its total production.

“Lodyss is a first step, but there will certainly be other steps which will be made,” added the director.

The brewery's Munhowen subsidiary saw its sales fall by 21% to €61.95m, while Ebitda evaporated by 77% to €1.52m. It should be noted that the supplier, which is active in particular in the horeca sector, was hit by the two imposed closures, with sales in this segment being eroded by 45% to 99,000 hl. In the events sector, the fall is of the order of 35% to 49,600 hl.

March reopening

For 2021, Brasserie Nationale remains on its guard and expects the horeca sector to reopen at the end of March or beginning of April. It expects consumer behaviour will still be impacted by health restrictions, which is why “we do not have too many illusions about the events part,” said Frédéric de Radiguès.

Faced with a second lockdown, which was longer than the first, the brewer is preparing for a challenge: to replace its 20,000 barrels that will be out of date when the bars and restaurants reopen in the Greater Region. “It will certainly take about ten days to complete this logistical operation which will be unprecedented,” commented the director who estimates the number of barrels to be changed at 50,000 for the entire brewing industry.

It faces a decline of nearly 20% of its sales in 2020 in Europe, with 330 million hectoliters estimated. Conversely, the bottled water market has a global volume that is globally twice as large as that of beer, and is growing rapidly.

Hopes in water

This is why the National Brewery is counting on Lodyss to help it dilute the impact of covid-19.

Covid-19 is also shaking up the brewing contract market with the victory of a café owner over Brasserie du Luxembourg (where Diekirch is made) in the first instance. Brasserie Nationale refrained from commenting on this subject, saying only that it paid €1.8m in renegotiated rents at the end of the first lockdown. “Between a month and a half and two months of free rent were retroceded to our operators,” said Frédéric de Radiguès.

Last year, the group invested €9.5m in its production equipment, in new drinking establishments, in a warehouse, but also in an experimental brewery. Established on its production site in Bascharage, it should enable beer lovers to brew their own beverage. Its inauguration is scheduled for the end of the first half of the year, provided that the health crisis does not upset the agenda.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu