HP Bulmer - not just a cidermaker
One thing needs to be made clear. HP Bulmer is no longer just a cidermaker — it is a supplier of "long alcoholic drinks".
The small firm set up in a Herefordshire village by a rector's son 112 years ago has grown into a multinational with a turnover of £310m a year.
Cider is still at the heart of the business, including Woodpecker, the category's number one, Strongbow, and the leading premium cider, Scrumpy Jack. But increasing sums come from other sources, including new spirits mixers and agency agreements for international beer brands.
The rate of change at Bulmers has stepped up since the arrival of chief executive Mike Hughes 18 months ago. With a background at Guinness and Coca-Cola, he believes Bulmers can develop global brands.
The group has set itself a target of reaching a turnover of £1bn within five years, pushed both by growth in the UK and increasing stakes in growing overseas markets.
It has bought into cider production in Australasia, Belgium, the US and South Africa, which now accounts for 20 per cent of the group's business.
Bulmers believes its products no longer compete in the declining cider sector but in the much broader "long alcoholic drinks" market-place. This means its competitors are no longer just Matthew Clark's Blackthorn and Cidermaster but Carling, Stella Artois or Guinness.
With Strongbow at number 11 in this market, Bulmers aims to enter the top 10 by next April and the top five within five years.
Strongbow sales have soared since the launch of a new TV ad campaign 18 months ago featuring Big Breakfast presenter Johnny Vaughan.
This year, Strongbow's on-trade brand manager Nicola Roberts is co-ordinating a £3m sampling programme in 2,000 bars and pubs in circuits in towns and cities across the UK.
Other projects include sampling at music events and appointing student brand managers at eight universities to act as front-line marketeers.
Group commercial director Tim Furse said: "Strongbow's got real momentum at the moment but we want to accelerate that and have a brand on the scale of Guinness."
With £8m put behind Strongbow's advertising this year, it is the seventh highest media investor in the long alcoholic drinks market, ahead of major brands such as Tetley, John Smith's and Holsten.
"If we are going to play in the big league, we have to spend at a big league level," Furse said.
New pump clips and 330ml bottles are arriving this month, bearing a new logo which replaces the traditional "aggressive, sinister" archer with someone more "approachable".
Woodpecker is gaining new drinkers after a bottle revamp, while Scrumpy Jack has grown on the back of sponsorship of the England cricket squad and a reduction in the on-trade alcohol content from six per cent to 5.2.
With a national distribution network, the Hereford-based group has grabbed some major lager brands under agency agreements — Jamaica's Red Stripe, Spain's San Miguel and Holland's Amstel, plus DAB from Germany and Steinlager from New Zealand.
Nick White, business manager for San Miguel and Amstel, said: "Beer is important to Bulmers and we are going to quadruple profits within the next four years.
"We will achieve this through organic growth and taking in other beer brands."
Although Bulmers continues to have a "particular focus on cider", the group last year closed the Inch's production and packaging plants at Winkleigh and North Tawton in Devon.
The changing identity is backed by the family, headed by chairman Esmond Bulmer, which still controls 50 per cent. With £74m invested in new plant and technology over the past four years, the shareholders believe management is building up a business for the future.
Its target is to be "a world-class innovative, consumer-focused international long alcoholic drinks company".
Furse said: "We have put a stake in the ground and are looking at how we can get there as quickly as possible."
