Strategy and Ambition

The company is one of the largest dedicated players in the coffee and tea industry, with sales of €2.7bn for the fiscal year ending in June 2012.

Currently, we are the third largest in the world and our ambition is to move up to second place through a combination of expansion, innovation and value-added offerings. These are three of our six strategic priorities; the others cover our organization, our operations and our financials.

Expansion

Historically, the bulk of our sales and profits have been generated across Western Europe. While continuing to build our business in these countries, we are also focused on growing sales in the emerging markets where we already have a presence, including Brazil, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Thailand. We'll also be moving into new markets through targeted acquisitions, where the conditions are right. In Out of Home, we'll be extending the reach of our business by targeting specific sites such as airports, petrol (gas) stations and cafés.

Innovation

We are experts in mapping the coffee and tea preferences of consumers, and we'll be using this valuable information to tailor products and packaging more closely to the individual taste.We are pioneers in the single-serve coffee market, and on-going R&D will help us enhance the popular SENSEO brand with a new innovative machine annually.

Value-added offerings

Over the next 24 months, we will be introducing new flavours and updating our packaging. The global tea industry is growing, and while our focus will be on premium teas in traditional flavours, we'll be adding new varieties and formats to match consumer demands.

Organisation

With our activities now dedicated to coffee and tea we are working on establishing a more performance-driven culture. We're also strengthening our marketing teams and our in-country expertise.

Operations

Reducing the time it takes us to bring new ideas to market is critically important, and we have already shown we can cut product development times dramatically. We intend to maximise our strengths in R&D, share best practice across the company and build best-in-class implementation capabilities.

Financials

Strategic pricing, cost efficiencies and working capital optimisation are some of the ways we intend to strengthen our financial performance. We will also be improving our financial reporting processes, so that management teams can take more informed decisions.

Sustainability is another vital element of our business strategy. Within our sector there are several prominent social issues, and we are keen to tackle these through our entire value chain. We do this by focusing on four key areas: responsible sourcing, sustainable manufacturing, supporting communities and responsible consumption. You can read more about our approach and standards of ethical and responsible behaviour in the sustainability section of our website.

Strategy and Ambition

Expansion

Innovation

Value-added offerings

Organisation

Operations

Financials

Business

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