Attica Ventures invests in the beer market

26 February 2008

Attica Ventures completed its seventh investment in a row by investing in Craft, the first and largest microbrewery to operate in Greece.

Craft opened back in 1997 with the first and only restaurants-cum-breweries in Greece on Alexandras Ave. and in Halandri with beer production facilities on-site. This innovation brought the microbrewery right into the city and literally into direct contact with the public and fans of quality beer. The encouraging response and support of the public for these fresh beers produced on a small scale led Craft to set up a state-of-the-art brewery in Peania in 2003 to produce and sell quality draft beer at selected cafes, restaurants and bars in Greece. Today it has a network with more than 700 points of sale.

 All the ingredients (malt, hops and yeast) are natural, pure and specially selected for each type of beer. No additives such as fermentation accelerators or foam stabilisers are used, nor are preservatives or other chemicals added. The beer remains alive, pure and flavour-packed because, just like fresh bread from the bakery, it is a natural product rich in scent and flavour; properties that are retained thanks to small-scale production but which, to a large extent, are lost with standardisation and the excessive stabilisation employed in mass production.

To date the company has made investments of over € 4 million and expects to report turnover of € 3 million for 2007 and € 5 million for 2008, while EBT for those periods are € 100,000 and € 300,000 respectively. Thanks to the capital injection from Attica Ventures the company will commence a new investment scheme of € 5.6 million which includes setting up a state-of-the-art bottling plant that can handle 10,000 bottles per hour and modernising its current industrial beer production facilities.

In making these investments Craft is making a dynamic entry to the bottled beer market. Craft's Managing Director, Mr. Emmanuelidis, had the following to say about the company's objectives in this regard: "…in the beer sector —just like the wine sector, and many other sectors over recent years— knowledge and the care taken in small-scale production are winning ground and will contribute to an improvement in quality, resulting in new high quality products which stand out from the crowd, and will win the competition battle in the brewery sector."

Under current plans Craft’s range of 6 different beers will be available on supermarket shelves and catering outlets in the spring, offering beer fans the unique quality and look of Craft beers. It is no coincidence that the famous Swedish taster, Paul Samuelsson, chose Craft beer as the best Greek beer.

FROM THE ATTICA VENTURES PRESS OFFICE

A few words about ATTICA VENTURES: Attica Ventures S.A. was established in September 2003, and is a member of the Attica Bank Group of companies. Its corporate scope is to manage venture capital funds. Attica Bank is the first bank to participate in a venture capital fund and establish a specialised subsidiary to manage such a fund.