Mark McKenzie, managing director of Red Stripe. - File

Red Stripe Jamaica will take command of Diageo's beer market within the hemisphere, but the company is saying not much will change in the logistics for the manufacturing or brewing and distribution of the English company's brands.

But it will also give Red Stripe a 40 per cent command of the beer market in the Northern Latin America and Caribbean (NLAC) region in which Jamaica will fall as of July 1, under a regionwide restructuring exercise that Diageo has been engineering since the start of calendar 2009, the company claims.

The NLAC group brings Jamaica and CAPEC, which stands for the Central America free trade zone, Ecuador and Caribbean, under one umbrella. Mark McKenzie, who now answers to London, will report to the general manager of the NLAC region.

Noel DaCosta, who is both the corporate relations director of Diageo's CAPEC region and sits on the board of Red Stripe Jamaica as a non-executive director, said Jamaica would be in charge of developing the markets for Guinness and Red Stripe beer, as well as Dragon Stout.

Manufactured in the region

All marketing contracts will be handled from Jamaica.

The beers will still be manufactured at different plants in the region. DaCosta said the main changes would occur in the area of sales and marketing. Essentially, those functions that were normally carried out by Diageo staff for the different country operations in the region will now become Jamaica's responsibility.

At the same time, wines and spirits will be overseen by the Miami office, which means Red Stripe Jamaica will give up the responsibility it has for Diageo spirits brands, according to DaCosta.

The sales team for beer will be domiciled in Jamaica, but organisationally will be employed by Diageo's regional NLAC office in Miami.

Team leader

A team leader is now being recruited. DaCosta said the post, as well as any other positions created under the new structure, will likely be filled internally.

Red Stripe was unwilling to disclose the size of the beer market in this region, saying a disclosure of volumes would give ammunition to its rivals.

In Jamaica, Red Stripe's rivals have estimated that the company produces about one million cases of beer annually and commands 80 per cent of the market.

The changes across the Diageo group come alongside a slide in sales for Red Stripe and the brands it distributes, locally and internationally.

At last report, Red Stripe company's volume sales dropped by six per cent across all markets in its first half year to December 31, 2008, with the biggest slump occurring inside Jamaica where sales fell 18 per cent in the half year.

A 25 per cent growth in exports was insufficient to carry the day.

Within the region, "Jamaica is the biggest market; it's where the beer expertise lies and so we will use that expertise to drive volume growth," said Mark McKenzie, managing director of Red Stripe.

"The expertise will be utilised to manage and grow the business as the smaller beer markets don't have that level of expertise."

Brewed under licence

With the exception of Antigua and the United Kingdom where Red Stripe is brewed under licence, Red Stripe beer is supplied to all other markets from Jamaica.

Red Stripe Light and Dragon Stout are brewed only in Jamaica while Guinness, in addition to Jamaica, is brewed and distributed in 13 locations across the Caribbean and Northern Latin America as well as other parts of the world.

But the exact growth strategy is still being fleshed out by the Red Stripe team.

New structure

"The details of that is still a work in progress," said McKenzie.

"Still working on details of how that will play out but will be completed by July 1 when the new structure will come into effect," he added.

Along with its beer brand Red Stripe also distributes Heineken to the Jamaican market under a contractual arrangement, one which McKenzie said will not be impacted in the new dispensation.

However, DaCosta and some 19 other staff members will; but DaCosta retains his position on the Board of Red Stripe. Maxine Whittingham Osbourne, head of corporate relations at Red Stripe, also departs June 30, as will Wayne Powell.

Whittingham Osbourne told Wednesday Business that she would take the opportunity for "some 'me' time and travelling". A visit to her brother in New Zealand, she said, is overdue.

"I've been working hard since age 19, so it's time to really take a break," she said.

But Whittingham Osbourne also said once rested she plans to launch out on her own.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com