Maximum anticipation in Freixenet's dispatch department, where employees these days are counting practically one by one every bottle that leaves the winery. Exactly one month before closing 2021, the leading company in the cava sector is about to break a historical record: selling 100 million bottles under the Freixenet brand in a single year. In 2020, despite the pandemic, the group was on the verge of reaching this figure, accounting for 99.3 million bottles, a 5.1% increase. Eleven months later, the 100 million bottles are expected to be counted throughout this Puente de la Purísima long weekend, so that the year will close with a volume of around 106 million units sold.
"This Christmas is going to be very special, because we will reach the magic number of 100 million with the Freixenet brand and, in addition, we are celebrating the 80th anniversary of Carta Nevada cava," Pedro Ferrer, CEO of the group and member of the third generation of the founding family, owner of 50% of the capital, explained proudly this Wednesday. The other half belongs to the German company Henkell, which entered the company in 2018. "The alliance between Henkell and Freixenet has been extraordinarily positive, it is very fruitful. I believe these have been Freixenet's best three years in the last two decades," Ferrer emphasized.
It should be noted that the 100 million bottles under the Freixenet brand are not only cava, but this figure has been achieved thanks to the group's strong commitment to prosecco—the most internationally successful Italian sparkling wine—and to also start producing still wines under the Freixenet brand. Thus, 55% of this sales volume (55 million bottles) corresponds to DO Cava, 30 million to still wines of different origins, and 15 million to Freixenet Prosecco, which is especially successful in the United Kingdom. In cava, Freixenet controls a 20% market share in Spain, meaning it sells one out of every five bottles sold, 30% during the Christmas campaign.
About 20 years ago, in very important markets for the group such as Germany, Freixenet began selling still wines under its brand, or with sub-brands such as Mia and Mederaño. However, in Spain, the company had never dared to take this step and identified the Freixenet brand only with cava. Last spring, however, this strategy changed and the company launched a white wine and a rosé wine in the Spanish market which have been a sales success, with the 150,000 available bottles quickly selling out. Thus, the idea now is to intensify the international commitment to the Freixenet Wine Collection, and good proof of this is that in the brand's anticipated Christmas advertisement, which premieres this Wednesday on social media and on Thursday, December 2, on television, not only bottles of Carta Nevada appear, but also still wines. This is a very significant novelty, which marks a before and after, and which definitively leaves behind the iconic spots starring celebrities and Freixenet bubbles. The spot, created by the Lovebite agency with the slogan Life is how you celebrate it, will be broadcast in Henkel Freixenet's main international markets. It was filmed on the Costa Brava and in Barcelona.
To exemplify its good moment, Freixenet has announced the launch of a 30 million euro investment to expand the production capacity of the Sant Sadurní d'Anonia winery, in Alt Penedès, by 35 million bottles. In addition, a new line will be launched to carry out the disgorging process of cava, with a capacity to process 15,000 bottles per hour. According to Pedro Ferrer, the goal is for the works to begin in 2022 and to be inaugurated in 2014. "It will be the most important investment made by Freixenet in the last 20 years; it is very good news for Penedès," highlighted the CEO, who leads the company together with Andreas Brokemper, CEO of the Henkell Freixenet group.
The expansion will allow to face the increase in sales, which this year will grow by 10% in number of bottles, and will also contribute to improving the efficiency of the group which currently, due to lack of space, uses several external warehouses with capacity for 17 million bottles. "This volume will be centralized at our headquarters in Sant Sadurní, which will reduce logistics costs, environmental impact and improve efficiency," explained Ferrer. The investment is not expected to translate into a significant increase in the workforce of the company's productive area, which is growing in other departments such as marketing and digital communication.
According to Brokemper, Henkell Freixenet is a world leader in sparkling wines ---cava and prosecco---, with strong internationalization ---foreign sales account for 80%--- and has shown great resilience during the pandemic. "The first eleven months of the year have been really good; we are optimistic about this year's results, but December is a very important month for us and we are waiting," said the German executive. In 2020, Henkell Freixenet had a turnover of 1,195 million euros, 7.4% less than in 2019.
The group has just been involved in the corporate reorganization of the German family holding Oetker, owned by eight siblings who have now divided their conglomerate of companies into two differentiated groups. Thus, the three younger siblings of the Oetker family have kept the ownership of Henkell Freixenet (where the Catalan Ferrer family owns 50%), which now becomes "the jewel in the crown" ---according to Pedro Ferrer--- of a new holding called Geschwister Oetker Group which also brings together other European wineries, a chemical company (Budenheim), a manufacturer of pastry ingredients (The Martin Braun-Gruppe), a hotel chain (Oetker Collection) and a relevant art collection. All these businesses jointly turn over more than 2,000 million euros and employ 8,000 people. In parallel, the five older Oetker siblings have kept the other part of the conglomerate, Dr. August Oetker, which includes businesses such as the famous Dr. Oetker pizzas and a 25% stake in the Catalan brewing group Damm.
New president
As a consequence of these changes, there has been a change in the presidency of Henkell Freixenet, which is now occupied by Alfred Oetker, CEO of Geschwister Oetker Group together with Ferdinand Oetker, who has also joined the board of Henkell Freixenet. Albert Christmann, head of the other group resulting from the spin-off, left the presidency. Andreas Brokemper and brothers Pedro and Josep Maria Ferrer complete the company's board of directors.
On the other hand, Freixenet has managed to give a new international boost to its brand thanks to David Guetta's latest music video, dedicated to the song Family, where a bottle of Cordon Negro appears several times and people are dancing and toasting with cava.