Brewdog profits rocket by 383%

Scottish craft beer brewer BrewDog has seen its net profits rise to more than £2.3m, up 383% on 2012, following the release of its 2013 financial report today.

In announcing a rise in its annual turnover of 70% to £18m, James Watt, BrewDog co-founder, said that while “tired pubs” are facing closure and big breweries are reporting “disappointing sales”, the craft beer industry is booming outlining BrewDog’s determination to change it “much, much more.”

Recently named the UK’s fastest growing food and drinks company by The Sunday Times, 2014 saw the company launch its new brewery in Ellon in Aberdeenshire in 2014 taking its production capacity form 25,000 hectolitres to 250,000 hectolitres a year, with a further £4m expansion currently underway at the brewery.

Having expanded onto the international stage in 2013 with launch of its first bar in Stockholm, a further four bars were opened in 2014 in Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Gothenburg, bringing Brewdog’s worldwide bar count to 17, with a further seven bars set to open in Dundee, Clapham, Liverpool and Rome.

While earlier this year BrewDog opened its first Bottledog shop in London selling bottled craft beers, with many more already in the pipeline.

Watt said: “2013 was a brilliant year for us and our financial results show that. We launched our new state-of-the-art brewery part funded by Equity Punks, opened three more awesome bars including our first international bar, and welcomed 8,000 new Equity for Punks to our business”, adding: “We’ve come a long way since we were just two guys and a dog selling beer out of the back of a beat-up van, but the passion driving the business has never changed. We still just want to make other people as excited about great beer as we are.”

The brewer produces some of world’s most expensive beers, including its The End of History brew. Released in 2010 only 11 bottles of this 55% abv blond Belgian ale were produced, which come encased in a taxidermy squirrel or stoat, and retail at £500 for 22ml.

BrewDog is supported by crowdfunding scheme ‘Equity for Punks’, which calls on beer lover to buy a stake in the business.

Its third round completed in 2013 raising £4.25m in less than six months.

More than 4,000 are expected to attend the brewer’s annual AGM on 21 June, open to all of its shareholders and their guests, with a presentation to announce new beers and business updates followed by beer tastings and live music.