HONG KONG, July 11, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Jebsen Group (Jebsen), a leading brand builder in Greater China providing marketing, distribution and investment services, today announced the Group's 2018 turnover of HKD $14.8 billion (approx. RMB 13 billion). This consistently strong performance reflects Jebsen's long-standing experience operating in the Greater China marketplace and strategic expertise in navigating China's evolving economy.
China continues its transition from an investment to a consumption-driven economy with government policy supporting this key trend. This has resulted in a robust GDP growth rate of 6.6% in 2018 despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and ongoing trade tensions.
Jebsen has adapted to this challenging environment through key strategic investments and innovations, across both products and channels, to ensure the group continues to anticipate and build on consumer trends. Innovation and diversification have continued to drive Jebsen's strategic business lines to solid growth across the Greater China marketplace.
Jebsen Beverage marked another record year in the Greater China market due to the group's relentless ability to track and respond to ever-evolving consumer tastes and trends. Jebsen Beer is now the largest beer organisation in Hong Kong, enjoying the highest-ever sales volume in 2018 and offering an outstanding portfolio of global brands including Blue Girl Beer, Stella Artois, Budweiser, Hoegaarden, Corona and Suntory.
Blue Girl Beer remained the number one beer brand in Hong Kong for the twelfth consecutive year and the brand has seen continued growth in popularity across Mainland China. In 2018, Jebsen Beverage announced an agreement to form a joint venture with AB InBev in Mainland China. The joint venture, which commenced operations in Q2 2019, has given Blue Girl Beer immediate access to a much larger distribution capability across Mainland China to accelerate the brand's growth and the opportunity to realize its full potential within the market.
In the wine and spirits category, Jebsen Fine Wines has continued to invest in the future with a broad range of new products, including expanding its portfolio of exciting spirit brands in Hong Kong. It continues to have strong growth in the sake category and added Shichiken to its sake portfolio in 2018. With e-commerce a driving force for the retail sector, Jebsen Fine Wines revamped its online shopping platform in Hong Kong to better promote wine culture, share their expertise with customers and encourage their wine exploration journey. In Mainland China, Jebsen Fine Wines is also helping educate the market as an official Wine and Spirit Education Trust (WSET) approved programme provider.
Jebsen Consumer continued its expansion in the Mainland market with its omni-channel strategic approach. In the offline retail segment, Jebsen Consumer has a footprint of J SELECT stores which includes five stores in Hong Kong and one in Beijing, with 13 J SELECT+ stores in Mainland China and a total of three across Hong Kong and Macau.
With e-commerce providing strong impetus to Greater China retail sales, Jebsen Consumer has upgraded its online platforms which include J SELECT Online, J SELECT Tmall and HKTVmall J SELECT. A landmark development came in September 2018 with the introduction of the J SELECT mobile app, catering to the mobile-engaged, younger consumer demographic.
Jebsen Consumer has also continued to garner industry recognition from its partners. The Dyson China team was recognised with the "Dyson Code" appreciation award from Dyson amongst other awards from major retail brand partners. Further industry acknowledgement was reflected in J SELECT's "2018 Service Retailers of the Year - Electronic & Electrical Appliances Category Award" from the Hong Kong Retail Management Association.
Jebsen Industrial has expanded its geographical coverage, market share and partnerships in 2018. The Distribution & Services business extended the breadth of its services in the additive manufacturing space; partnered with Stratasys to deliver professional 3D printing technologies and solutions to support smart manufacturing and optimisation. It has also worked with French premium bathroom brand Jacob Delafon on setting up its first Hong Kong showroom.
The group also oversaw the smooth transition of its ingredients business in China following the launch of a joint venture, Jebsen & Jessen Ingredients last year. The new entity offers an even wider range of expertise and high-quality ingredients solutions and services to customers in the consumer and chemical industries.
Within the umbrella of its Mobility Solutions offering, Jebsen-TCG, a leading provider of customised oil pumps and coolant pump systems for automotive applications, transferred its production to a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Dalian.
Jebsen Motors has remained amongst the largest Porsche dealership groups in the world, overseeing the delivery of almost 9,700 cars and serving some 95,000 customers in 2018 in Greater China. Further recognition of its leadership position saw Jebsen Motors heading Porsche China's Dealership rankings for a fourth consecutive year. Porsche Centre Hangzhou Westlake took top honours in the prestigious "Dealer of the Year" award, with Porsche Centre Shenzhen Longgang and Futian placing second.
All Jebsen Motors' Porsche Centres in Mainland China are among the top 100 dealers worldwide in terms of retail sales. The group's presence has continued to expand, with the company selected by Porsche to develop two new Porsche centres in Nanjing and Shenzhen. Reinforcing Jebsen Motors' commitment to promoting Porsche's sportscar culture, Porsche Centre Hong Kong sponsored an amateur racing team in the Dubai 24-hour Race in January 2019.
In 2018, Jebsen Logistics made a new investment in the form of a centralised warehouse for beer storage. The newly set up Yuen Fat Warehouse in Hong Kong comprises of an area of 132,230 sq.ft., consolidating the storage and delivery operations of packaged and canned products, point of sale materials and kegs.
Sustainable future growth remains a priority for the Jebsen Group as a whole. In 2017, an important step in that direction was made through the launch of Jebsen Capital. Jebsen Capital is the strategic investment division of the Group, created with the ambition to continuously capture investment opportunities in promising new industries while strengthening the company's existing core businesses. Investment highlights in 2018 included the majority takeover of the Shanghai-based self-storage company MiniCC Storage, a minority investment in the Israeli automotive-focused computer vision company Eyesight Technologies, as well as a minority investment in Hong Kong-based premium healthcare provider Virtus Medical Group. Going forward, Jebsen Capital will continue to look for growth equity investment opportunities as well as strengthen its real estate and capital management activities.
Mr. Helmuth Hennig, Group Managing Director of Jebsen said: "With some 124 years of business acumen and experience in navigating the constantly evolving business environment, Jebsen has continued to successfully expand and diversify its operations across the Greater China market. This has been achieved by identifying and building upon long-term trends and seeking new opportunities through continuous innovation, supported by robust and experienced management practices, whilst ensuring the highest quality service to our customers and business partners."
About Jebsen Group
Founded in 1895, Jebsen Group is a focused marketing, distribution, and investment organisation. With a long, unique established presence and deep understanding of Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the Jebsen Group is committed to supporting our partners' needs in building market demand, generating and supporting sales, and serving as an important link to customers throughout the region. Under the unified master brand of Jebsen, the Group has six Business Lines including Beverage, Consumer, Industrial, Motors, Logistics and Jebsen Capital. Jebsen offers some 200 of the world's leading products extensive local market access with a high degree of specialisation. Outside the region, the Jebsen Group enjoys close ties with sister companies in Australia, South East Asia, Denmark and Germany. For more information, visit www.jebsen.com, or follow us on Sina Weibo (weibo.com/jebsengroup), WeChat (id:jebsen1895) and LinkedIn (id:jebsen group).
