During an Official Visit to Farsons Brewery by Dr Alfred Sant, Leader of the Opposition, together with Deputy Leader and Opposition Main Spokesman for Parliamentary Affairs, Finance and Economic Affairs, Dr Charles Mangion, they were briefed by Farsons Group Chief Executive, Mr Louis A Farrugia and senior company officials about the new Lm14 million investment including the construction of a New Packaging Hall for Soft-drinks, a New Distribution Centre and a New Brewhouse, that will be completed by the end of 2010.
Mr Farrugia thanked Dr Sant for having given him the opportunity to brief him about this important investment. He saw Dr Sant’s presence as a sign of support to these initiatives which the Company was taking.
“Through this investment, the Group aims to improve efficiency, to continue improving the quality of our product, and to prepare for the complete liberalisation of the soft drinks market in 2008. We have always ensured that our Company is adequately equipped with the latest technology to be able to offer in an efficient manner the best quality products,” said Mr Farrugia.
“Another great asset in our Company has always been our human resources. We have always striven to ensure that we have a well trained staff backed by professional management,” he said. “We are proud to say that the three projects, that are being being on the Company’s own land, are being implemented by a Project Team consisting of members of our Company’s Management Team and assisted by consultants who are all Maltese.”
This human resource approach has helped the Company in the last seventy six years of its history not only to overcome the challenges it faced, which were many, but also to ensure that its products remained among the most popular choices for consumers in Malta.
Referring to this new investment, Mr Farrugia said that construction works have already started on the new Lm5.6 million Soft drinks Packaging Hall. This will be completed by 2007.
Work on the new Distribution Centre will begin by the end of this year. The work on the new Brewhouse is expected to begin in 2009.
“Our products are regarded as among the best Maltese products. This is not only due to the fact that the Company always focused on quality but also on making sure that its prices are competitive,” said Mr Farrugia.
Today, Farsons is a diversified Group with a turnover nearing Lm27 million. Fifty-six per cent (56%) of its turnover results from manufacturing, that is from the sale of beers, soft drinks, water and juices produced here in Malta. The other part of the turnover is generated from other activities of the Group. These include the sale of wines, spirits, beers and food that are imported by its subsidiary companies.
This balance, backed by other resources such as strong marketing and distribution, robust IT operations and recognisable high quality products, enables Farsons to be present in every sector of the market.
“This fills us with courage and while we understand that this places upon us a great responsibility, it also helps us to continue working hard to advance our industry even further,” said Mr Farrugia.
“We are confident that all our stakeholders: management, employees, unions, shareholders, and consumers understand that these projects will strengthen the Company’s position. These projects will further enable us to meet the challenges of a completely liberalised market. They will also serve to help the Company’s endeavours in further substituting importation for the benefit of our shareholders and employees, and finally the Maltese economy itself. Through this investment, the quality of our products will continue to improve and therefore we shall be able to compete with high quality products from other European countries, in the years to come,” said Farsons Group Chief Executive.