Molson Coors hopes to grow its Scottish beer sales to UK level

MOLSON Coors, the brewer of Carling and Caffrey's, is looking to push ahead with sales in Scotland to bring its market share up to the 20 per cent it holds across the UK.

The company is in the midst of a "comprehensive and aggressive" three-year plan to lift sales in both Scotland and Ireland, where its beers are less popular than elsewhere. In Scotland, Molson Coors brands currently account for just 6 per cent of all beer sales.

Mark Hunter, the Scots-born chief executive of Molson Coors UK, said the company would be using a variety of innovations in packaging, branding and product development to achieve its targets. Investment in staff will also be crucial.

"While a lot of our competitors are taking people out of their business, we are putting more people into ours," he said.

Speaking before addressing guests at the Albion Dinner hosted by the Marketing Society Scotland, Hunter said Molson Coors would also look to expand the scope of its successful relationships in the off-sales trade.

For example, his group's brands currently account for about 20 per cent of all beer sold in Morrisons supermarkets across Scotland. The one thing he will not do, however, is sacrifice profits for the sake of market share.

"We will not participate in promotional activity that destroys profitability," he said. "Were not prepared to do it, and we can't do it if we are to survive as a business."

Molson Coors currently makes just shy of 3p on every pint it sells, and has been working to push that figure higher. The group's refusal to chase loss-making business saw it de-listed last year from Tesco stores across the UK, though that lasted only a few weeks.

"We are back in Tesco because shoppers started to change their behaviour," he said, adding that Tesco suffered substantial customer defections to rivals Asda and Morrisons.