Miller Brands, the company that has responsibility in the UK and Ireland for the development of premium beers including Pilsner Urquell, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Miller Genuine Draft has linked up with global charity, WaterAid. This followed a poll amongst the company’s employees to choose a charity to partner throughout the year.
Miller Brands is keen to offer more than just financial support and recently organised a session for WaterAid employees to help improve their business skills including understanding customers needs, communication and evaluation methods. The training was well-received by WaterAid who plans to use the learnings from it to build more effective partnerships with its supporters.
Jonathan Bennett, Head of Corporate Affairs at Miller Brands said, “We are sharing our skills and resource with an organisation whose skills and actions make a difference to thousands of communities across the world.
“By its nature, brewing is a water-intensive process and we recognise that it is a precious commodity. Making more beer but using less water is one of our three global focus areas for sustainable development. WaterAid has a vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation and we’re pleased to help them achieve this in whatever way we can.”
WaterAid works in a number of the countries in which the parent company of Miller Brands, SABMiller operates. SABMiller has set itself the target of reducing water use per litre of beer by 25% by 2015. This initiative will save around 20 billion litres of water - enough to fill eight thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools. The company also aims to reduce its water consumption to an average of 3.5 litres per litre of beer produced by 2015. In 2008 this figure was 4.6 litres; the industry average is 5 litres.
As well as offering business support the team at Woking are committed to raising as much money as possible and have already donated in excess of £8k – well on target to reach the £10k target they have set themselves. Much of the money has been raised through employee fundraising and a combination of taking part in sponsored events such as triathlons and even selling WaterAid Christmas cards at the company offices.
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Notes to Editors:
About Miller Brands
Miller Brands has responsibility for the development of SABMiller’s international premium brands across the UK and Ireland; these include Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell and Miller Genuine Draft. Through its consistent pricing and distribution discipline, supplemented by engaging marketing activities, Miller Brands is bringing value back into the beer category. Our diverse workforce including 19 nationalities allows us to think of different ways of tackling problems to help us stay ahead of competition. We are committed to re-defining lager in the eyes of public, the government and others. More information can be found at www.millerbrands.co.uk.
About SABMiller
SABMiller is one of the world's largest brewers with brewing interests and distribution agreements across six continents. The group's wide portfolio of brands includes premium international beers such as Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft, Peroni Nastro Azzurro and Pilsner Urquell, as well as market-leading local brands such as Aguila, Castle, Miller Lite, Snow and Tyskie. SABMiller is also one of the largest bottlers of Coca-Cola products in the world.
In the year ended 31 March 2009, the group reported US$3,405 million in adjusted pre-tax profit and group revenue of US$25,302 million. SABMiller is listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges.
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Emma Currin
Leisure PR & Communications
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Email: emmacurrin@leisurepr.co.uk