[COMPANY NAME]

[Company address]

SLEEMAN BREWERIES
CASE STUDY
ASSIGNMENT
Reyner Dsouza 101039628
 Assess the Canadian brewing industry. What risks and opportunities exist?

Overview: Canadian Brewing industry is a massive industry that amounts to

nearly $8 billion in annual sales. It is a business where there is extreme
competition among several micro-breweries and the domestic market also faces
competition from imported breweries. Canadian brewing was dominated by
Molson Breweries and Labatt Brewing Company. Despite the large market share
of these two organizations, they have been losing market over the years to
smaller microbreweries. This case study focuses on performance of Sleeman
breweries to understand if is it safe to invest in such a business venture or
whether we shouldnt invest in the same.
Growth: Sleeman Breweries limited or SBL was a microbrewery that was shut
down 1933 bur reopened again in 1988. While reopening, they used many
original recipes that were used the founders originally. They saw the market shift
and realized that one brand wouldnt sustain on long run and decided to work on
acquiring and merging with various smaller brands. Their main aim was to grow
in domestic Canadian market by targeting local microbreweries and exploit
continued growth of import brands in North America using strategic alliances.
This can be clearly seen in their ratios as their net income to profit and gross
margin was way over what market expected. In their current plans it can be
clearly seen that that they arent just looking at premium offerings, which is
already doing well, but also targeting low cost markets as well.
Competition: As discussed earlier, it can be clearly seen that that the there is a
major competition in the local market among two major breweries and other
microbreweries. Microbreweries started eating into market share of major
breweries. Local market also fell by overall 0.2 percent in 1998 due to an
increase in sales of imported bears. While major breweries had enough resources
to put their focus on marketing, the same was not true for low cost beers and
local breweries. Some micro-breweries only focused on their localized market
Okanagan Springs which was available in B.C., Aberta and SK. Sleeman worked
on bringing such micro brands together under one umbrella. Their major strength
was not production but rather the way they managed their mergers and
acquisitions.
Risks:

Sleeman is a new entrant in a highly competitive market of a large $7

billion industry
There is extreme competition from those who hold the current market
shares
Labatt and Molson have resources to market themselves aggressively
against Sleeman
As of 1996, there were 46 microbreweries which were growing year on
year which new entrepreneurs
Pbast Brewing company deal was not aligned with company goals

Opportunities:

SBL was rated as one of the Canadas top 50 managed companies

Great management capabilities
 Good control over diversifying assets from acquisitions
Pbast Brewing company deal help them target new markets
Great and stable net and gross income
Excellent return on equity