BrewDog launches new £4m fund raising scheme
It plans to use the new investment to fund an expansion of its brewery, its bar division and the opening of new series of bottle shops across the UK.
The 12-strong company will make 42,000 shares available to anyone, at £95 each. It previously raised £2.2m through Equity for Punks in 2011.
BrewDog came top in this year’s Zolfo Cooper Profit Tracker in association with M&C Report, and has achieved an average annual growth of 167% the past five years. It said it was now valued at over three times the value it was given during the last Equity for Punks scheme in 2011.
It is on track to turnover £20m in 2013.
The group has opened 12 bars since 2010 – largely funded by Equity for Punks investment – including its first international location in Stockholm, Sweden, and opened its new £7.5m brewery earlier this year in Ellon, Aberdeenshire.
It has already said it is targeting Sheffield, Liverpool, Brighton, Cardiff, Cambridge, Oxford and south and west London for UK openings this year. In terms of the capital, co-founder James Watt has mentioned Hammersmith, Shepherd’s Bush and Brixton as areas he’d like to operate in.
He told M&C Report earlier this year that BrewDog is looking to operate bars directly in Germany and the US in addition to upcoming joint venture openings in the Belgium capital Brussels and São Paulo in Brazil.
He hopes to open another six or so this year in the UK but the Scottish company, which sells 60% of its beers overseas, is targeting foreign markets for a parallel expansion drive.
The group also recently set up a new service to deliver directly to retailers in London.
Watt said: "With the help of almost 7,000 punk investors, BrewDog has become the fastest growing food and drink company in the UK. As we need funds for more growth plans, we never considered a bank or an investment group – it’s another opportunity for our customers to benefit from our growth directly.
"This is the world’s biggest independent crowdfunding initiative. It proves that there is a viable alternative to the financial establishment, and as the self-interested banks continue to stunt economic growth, people are looking for better places to put their money.
"With Equity for Punks, beer fans are able to become part of a revolution – not just redefining beer in the UK, but shifting the balance of power away from the banks and back into the hands of the people.
"We want people to be as passionate about beer as we are – that is the foundation on which Equity for Punks is built. Not only are we creating a community of people that will profit from our growth, we are building an army of craft beer advocates shunning the status quo of fizzy, mass-produced, tasteless lagers and embracing quality, artisanal beers."
