Young & Co's Brewery Regulatory News (YNGA)

17 Jan 2007 08:10

Young & Co's Brewery PLC17 January 2007 17 January 2007 Young & Co's Brewery PLC Wells & Young's Brewing Company acquires Courage brands Young & Co's Brewery PLC is pleased to announce that its brewing joint venture,the Wells & Young's Brewing Company Ltd ("W&YBC"), has agreed to acquire theCourage portfolio of ale brands from Scottish and Newcastle UK ("S&N") for anundisclosed sum. W&YBC was formed by Young's and Charles Wells in October 2006. Under the terms of the agreement with S&N, a new company is being formed calledCourage Brands Ltd, which will be 83% owned by W&YBC, with S&N holding theremaining 17%. W&YBC will manage the business from its Brewery in Bedford, whereit will produce, market and sell the Courage beer portfolio - Courage BestBitter, Directors, Courage Mild and Courage Light Ale. S&N has entered into a supply agreement with Courage Brands and will continue tosell and distribute Courage brands throughout its direct regional on-tradebusiness. W&YBC will be free to promote the brands within its own customer baseand seek new stockists around the UK. It will also take on existing S&N nationalpub accounts, wholesalers and the take-home sector. Commenting on the deal, Steve Goodyear, Chief Executive of Young's said: "This a great strategic move for Wells & Young's and further consolidates itsposition as the UK's leading specialist cask ale brewer. The Courage brands arefamous around the world and perfectly complement W&Y's already strong portfolio,which includes the UK's fastest growing standard ale in Young's Bitter and theUK's fastest growing premium ale in Wells Bombardier." - Ends - For further information please contact: Hogarth Partnership 020 7357 9477James Longfield / Georgina Briscoe This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange