BrewDog revenues soar 55%

Craft beer company BrewDog has seen revenues leap to almost £80 million, although the Ellon-based firm insists that it won't 'rest on [its] laurels'.

BrewDog co-founder James Watt: 'Were at one of the most exciting and pivotal junctures in our existence'. Picture: Robb McCormick Photography

The independent brewer said in an interim trading update that total revenue showed a year-on-year increase of 55 per cent to £78m in the half year ended 30 June.

BrewDog cited “heavy investment” in the off-trade, such as partnerships with supermarkets Morrisons and Tesco, as contributing to UK retail sales growth of 83 per cent, along with the recent acquisition of the 14-bar strong Draft House pub group.

Revenues in its bar division made gains of 92 per cent versus the same period last year, generating an additional £10m so far in 2018.

International business had a significant impact on BrewDog’s financial performance, as its US division brought in some £5m in revenue in the first half of the year.

The company’s DogHouse hotel, marketed as the world’s first craft beer hotel, opened earlier this week at its US brewery in Columbus, Ohio, following a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than $300,000 (£233,000).

While exports to continental Europe continue to be the brewer’s largest overseas market, the company reported it was seeing “rapidly increasing demand” from Oceania and Asia.

Construction of its brewery in Brisbane which is due to become operational in early 2019, began in April. Meanwhile, the business has announced plans to find a suitable site for building a brewery in China to meet local demand.

BrewDog now has some 50 bars worldwide and exports into 60 countries.

So far this year BrewDog has opened nine bars internationally, with its first bar in Seoul, South Korea, debuting last week, and further new establishments are planned to open in Canary Wharf and Reykjavik in the coming months.

Co-founder James Watt said: “We’re at one of the most exciting and pivotal junctures in our existence. We’ve established a solid and rapidly growing presence in the UK and the demand from Europe shows no signs of waning.

“We’re making significant inroads in Asia and Australia, which I believe will begin to bear fruit in 2019.

“Our US business is expanding at breakneck speed with new distribution points added every week.

“All this wouldn’t be possible without our passionate community and a global beer audience that is growing increasingly tired of the lack of quality and variety offered by megabreweries.

“These half year figures are great, but we won’t rest on our laurels. There is much work still to do to change minds and bring more people into the craft beer revolution around planet Earth.”

On Tuesday, the brewer posted a blog highlighting a “catastrophic” manufacturing defect in some bottles as part of its OverWorks venture focused on experimenting with fermentation, saying the issue cost the business “hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of stock and six months’ worth of production time”.