Eden springs becomes West Europe's leading water cooler distributor
Eden Springs has emerged as West Europe's top bottled water cooler distributor, displacing Nestlé Waters from its number one spot, according to the 2007 West Europe Water Coolers report from leading beverage consultancy Zenith International. Eden Springs pursued an aggressive acquisition strategy during 2006 and early 2007, completing no fewer than 18 transactions in West Europe. Six of these were in the UK, the company's biggest national market, which undoubtedly provided the springboard for Eden Springs to stake its claim. The group is now responsible for almost one fifth of West Europe's 1.86 million bottled water cooler placements.
"The acquisition activity of Eden Springs highlights a new phase in West Europe's cooler market," commented Zenith Research Director Gary Roethenbaugh. "With the potential for major international transactions largely exhausted, companies are concentrating on building critical mass through smaller purchases in national markets."
Following a race for corporate supremacy in an intense period of consolidation at the beginning of the decade, the market is now led by a handful of multinationals. One of their main tasks has been to tidy up their portfolios - essentially clearing out unprofitable accounts. This, however, has given rise to mixed results when measuring performance in terms of portfolio size. Nestlé Waters divested over 5% of its installations during 2006 to streamline the business for future growth. Thus the road is being paved for the industry to return to a steadier and more profitable footing.
"Most key players are also gearing themselves up to extend their service offerings, especially to take advantage of the growth in point of use (POU), which is emerging as a particularly powerful force in some markets," added Gary Roethenbaugh.
Zenith forecasts continued double digit growth for POU over the next five years, which would see it take a 32% share of total water cooler installations by 2011. Nevertheless, as Zenith's latest report shows, POU is unlikely to gain such a hold in the markets of Greece, Portugal and Spain, where rapid growth in bottled water coolers continues apace. Based on current performance, the dynamic Spanish water cooler market could see itself propelled into second place in five years' time, behind the dominant UK market, with a possible 300,000 units and water sales of 300 million litres.
The 2007 Zenith Report on West Europe Water Coolers contains 300 pages including 125 company profiles, full company rankings, 22 market overview tables and a detailed market commentary. Contact Zenith International on tel +44 (0)1225 327900 or e-mail info@zenithinternational.com.
For further information, please contact:
Gary Roethenbaugh or Stuart Foxon, Zenith International Ltd
7 Kingsmead Square, Bath BA1 2AB, United Kingdom
t +44 (0)1225 327900, f +44 (0)1225 327901
zenithinternational.com