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Cobra Beer is an Indian beer brand manufactured in the United Kingdom and China. The group's primary product is an extra-smooth premium beer with an alcohol strength of 4.8% volume. The beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria, and Arjun Reddy - who thought that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager, which would appeal to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike.〔 A blend of water, malted barley, yeast, rice, maize wheat and four varieties of hops is used to produce the required characteristics.〔 In June 2011 Molson Coors bought a controlling interest in Cobra.〔 As of 2014, Cobra Beer is primarily produced in Burton-upon-Trent, Rodenbach in Belgium and in Patna in the Indian state of Bihar.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.molsoncoorscobra.com/en/About%20Us.aspx )〕 ==History== Cobra Beer was founded in 1989 by Karan Bilimoria,〔 then aged 27 and £20,000 in debt.〔 A Cambridge law graduate and qualified Chartered Accountant, Bilimoria launched Cobra Beer when it became clear to him that Britain needed a smoother, less gassy lager that appealed to both ale drinkers and lager drinkers alike, and that complemented all types of cuisines. Bilimoria claims that "the (British) lager was too fizzy, too harsh and too bloating. It meant that I couldn't eat or drink as much as I would like. At the same time, I found real ale to be great in a pub, but too bitter and heavy with food. So I came up with the idea of creating a beer with the refreshment of a lager, but with the smoothness of an ale." 〔interview with Karan Bilimoria on BBC News website 6 August 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28439834〕 Although originally intended to be named 'Panther' - the name was changed to 'Cobra' when a focus group found the latter to be more appealing. The first shipment of Cobra was imported in the UK from the Bangalore-based Mysore Brewery in 1990, at the start of the early 1990s recession.〔 - however, large consumer demand and increased import costs prompted Bilimoria to move production to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s. From 1996, Cobra Beer was brewed under contract by Charles Wells Ltd. and experienced strong growth in sales for the next ten years. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Cobra experienced strong - double-digit growth. In 2005, the company's premium Trappist beer-style pilsner, King Cobra, was launched. Brewed at Belgium's Rodenbach brewery, it is currently the only Pilsner-style lager to be fermented in the bottle. The company's alcohol-free beer, Cobra Zero, was also launched in 2005. The beer was well received at launch, being ranked by the Daily Mirror newspaper as 'head and shoulders above the rest.' However, Business losses accelerated in 2007 with total losses for the trading year to August 2007 reaching £13.6m on an annual turnover of around £45m. The business is approximately £26 million in debt and has borrowings from venture capitalists attracting interest at daily compound rate of 15%.〔Source: Annual Report and Accounts posted with Companies House in May 2008〕 Despite this, Cobra continued to accelerate its sales growth in recent years. Most recently, Cobra's half year sales figures for the period from 1 August 2008 - 31 January 2009 showed growth in volume terms of 21%.〔source: ACNielsen 2009〕 It is this strategy of growing sales, instead of concentrating on the "bottom line" which may have caused the company's financial problems. On Friday 29 May 2009 the company went into administration, owing an estimated £75 million to suppliers. On the same day, the business was rescued through the formation of the Cobra Beer Partnership Limited, a joint-venture between Molson Coors and Karan Bilimoria, with Molson Coors owning 50.1% of the shares and Bilimoria appointed as Chairman.〔 〕 In June 2011 it was reported that Molson Coors had also purchased a 51% stake in Cobra India, renamed as ''Molson Coors Cobra India''. The remaining 49% of the venture is controlled by Bilimoria. As of 2014, Cobra Beer has continued to experience increased sales - albeit at a slower place that it experienced during the 1990s. Since the formation of the joint venture with Molson Coors, growth has averaged between 7% and 10% in terms of year-on-year expansion and in 2013 had turn-over of £59.1 million and profit before tax of £7.7 million. As of November 2014, Cobra currently has a market share of over 98% of all licensed Indian restaurants within the United Kingdom.〔 In February 2014, Cobra launched a new advertising campaign with the Farringdon-based agency, Karmarama. Entitled, 'Meet the Boss' - the advertisement was well received in a number of areas, including being dubbed 'Ad of the Week' by the communications agency, Stratton Craig.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.strattoncraig.co.uk/blog/ad-of-the-week-cobra-beer/ )〕 In the first three three months of the campaign, Cobra saw 23% growth in volume sales in the off-trade - and a 77% volume growth in bars over a similar period. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cobra Beer」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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