BrewDog announces ‘substantial growth’ across entire business

24-Aug-2018 - Last updated on 24-Aug-2018 at 08:10 GMT

New site: the 32-room DogHouse hotel in Columbus, Ohio, will be opening its doors next week (27 August)

Scottish brewer and operator BrewDog has announced its half-year trading update showing growth across all areas of domestic and international business.

Total revenue for the business has reached £78m, up 55% compared with this time last year. Revenue of the bar arm is up by 92%, generating an incremental £10m so far this year.

BrewDog’s investment in the off-trade, its bar openings and the newly acquired Draft House group have all contributed to its UK retail sales growth of 83%.

The Scottish company is now the UK’s 13th biggest beer brand and its flagship brew, Punk IPA, is the number one trade craft beer in the UK, with market growth of 9.8% and value growth of 28.8%. In the off-trade, Punk IPA remains the best-selling craft beer, as it has been for the past three years.

Ongoing partnerships with JD Wetherspoon and Greene King have added 1,200 draught Punk IPA distribution points in the on-trade. While in the off-trade, Morrisons and Tesco have added 1,900 and 6,000 distribution points respectively this year.

International bars

So far in 2018, BrewDog has opened nine bars across the world, including two in Columbus, Ohio, and its first brewpub in Tower Hill, just outside the City of London. The brewer has also recently opened its first bar in Seoul, South Korea.

In March, BrewDog bought the Draft House estate of 14 sites in London and the south-east, and revamped the beer offer at all sites. At the Draft House venues, Punk IPA and LoneWolf gin are in the top five drinks sold.

At the BrewDog AGM in April, the brewer announced plans to open at least 17 more bars in the UK and around the globe. The new venues include locations such as Canary Wharf, Greater London and Reykjavik, Iceland.

BrewDog’s American division has brought in £5m in revenue in the first half of this year. The 100,000hl (hectolitres) brewery in Columbus, Ohio, opened last year and is brewing a number of beers including Punk IPA and Elvis Juice.

Opening on Monday (27 August), the operator opened the ‘world’s first craft beer hotel’ – the Doghouse, next door to the American brewery.

No signs of waning

Last year, it announced plans to find a site and build a brewery in China, in a bid to meet local demand and in April this year, it began construction of its 50hl brewery in Brisbane, Australia, which is due to be operational early next year.

BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: “We are at one of the most exciting and pivotal junctures in our existence. We have established a solid and rapidly growing presence in the UK and the demand from Europe shows no signs of waning. We are making significant inroads in Asia and Australia, which 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 mega-breweries.

“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.”