Heineken N.V. today announced that it is to close its Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork in March 2009.
All the company's draught beer operations will now be located at the Murphy brewery site in Cork. The decision follows a review of the recently acquired Beamish & Crawford brewery. The review concluded that a significant investment would be needed for the Beamish & Crawford brewery to meet international standards. This, combined with the difficulty of expansion, excess brewing capacity at Heineken Ireland and the challenging market dynamics, has reinforced the decision to close the Beamish & Crawford brewery.

As a result, approximately 40 roles from Beamish & Crawford will transfer to Heineken Ireland and it is anticipated that 120 personnel will be made redundant. Heineken will provide every means possible to assist departing staff to find new employment elsewhere.

The expected synergies and restructuring costs associated with this decision are included in the synergy and restructuring projection of the GBP 145 million and GBP 95 million before tax respectively for the acquired S&N businesses, as announced by Heineken N.V. on 22 August 2008.

This announcement follows the unconditional approval by the Irish Competition Authority on 3 October 2008, to proceed with the acquisition of Beamish & Crawford by Heineken. Heineken is Ireland's second largest brewer. Its enlarged portfolio includes Heineken, Amstel, Coors Light, Fosters, Miller, Carling, Kronenbourg, Beamish Stout, Murphy's Stout, Beamish Red, Scrumpy Jack and an extensive range of specialty beers.