Brains celebrates as profits up

 

Above: Brains Directors Scott Waddington and John Rhys

Press release from Brains, not much else to say on it but good to see a Welsh brewery not afraid to put their  results out there, hey Simon!

• Turnover was £113.6m, up 14% (£11.7m)
• Operating profit was £4.5m, up by 6.2% 
• EBITDA rose 7.8% to £11.6m
• Managed house like-for-like sales up 3.6%
• Leased and tenanted like-for-like sales up 2%
• Cask ale volumes in Managed and Leased & Tenanted pubs have grown by 5% and 3% respectively
• Take Home volumes have doubled in four years

Scott Waddington, Chief Executive of Brains said:

“Everyone in the company has worked extremely hard this year, providing momentum to take the business forward. The tough economic backdrop has been well documented, but despite these challenges the business’ performance was creditable, reflecting our underlying strengths.  We have grown sales in nearly every trading division, increased investment in our retail estate with positive results, and achieved our operating profit forecast.

“Sponsorship remains the key focal point of our marketing activity and we remain the official ale of the Welsh Rugby Union, the Football Association of Wales, and Glamorgan Cricket. 

“Shortly after the end of the financial year we acquired Coffee#1. At that time, the business comprised 15 high street coffee shops in South Wales and the South-West of England. To date trading has been ahead of expectation, we have opened three new Coffee#1 shops and have identified a number of further potential new sites.

“We have also invested in a new craft brewery, which is currently being installed alongside our existing brewery plant on the Cardiff Brewery site, and will allow us to produce a wider range of beers.”

Brains’ Chairman John Rhys added:

“Trading in the current financial year to date has been satisfactory and is broadly on plan despite the tough economic climate. Like-for-like sales are up 5% in our managed pub estate, with tenanted net sales also in growth. We remain cautious about the trading conditions that we expect to experience, and will therefore continue to focus on effectively delivering our customer service offers and also look for growth opportunities such as our diversification into the coffee market. Family shareholders are fully supportive of our continued long term strategy of investing in our brand, retail estate and people.

“We also remain concerned about the Government’s apparent lack of support for our industry in terms of the increasing tax burden that we face – in the case of Brains, our total tax bill was around £46m last year, from a business with a turnover of £113m.”