BrewDog lost nearly £37m last year as sales growth ground to a virtual halt, capping a rocky period in the wake of its outspoken founder James Watt’s departure as chief executive.
In the past few months, the self-styled “punk” beer company’s drinks have been axed from 2,000 pubs as customers opted for rival brews. It has also shut 10 of its own bars, citing tough trading conditions. Watt’s co-founder, Martin Dickie, announced his own departure last month.
On Thursday afternoon, BrewDog’s shareholders – who it calls “punks” – received an update outlining the company’s financial position.
Sales growth was up by less than 1% to £357m, a marked slowdown for a brewer that has been noted for the meteoric growth it racked up as it took on – and often matched – large global beer corporations.
While pre-tax losses narrowed from £59m last year to £36.6m, BrewDog still fell £34.5m into the red after tax. It also revealed that its largest shareholder, a private equity investor called TSG Consumer Partners, has agreed to lend it a further £20m. That is on top of high-interest loans that the brewer took out in 2022 and 2023 on an interest rate of up to 18%.
The increase in debt helped push up BrewDog’s annual interest payments by £4m to £17.3m.
In its statement, BrewDog played down the significance of stalling revenues and persistent pre-tax losses, pointing instead to its preferred “adjusted” profit before factors such as interest payments and tax. It said this earnings figure, of £7.5m, showed the company had “returned to profitability for the first time in several years”.
James Taylor, who succeeded Watt as chief executive, said the company had “achieved our highest ever share of the UK beer market, selling the equivalent of 4.5 cans of beer every second in UK supermarkets”.
Founded by Watt and Dickie in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 2007, the brand became popular during the 2010s as demand increased for craft beers. It now has breweries and pubs around the world, including 71 in the UK, of which 17 are in Scotland.
Last month it was announced that BrewDog would close 10 bars across the UK, including its flagship pub in Aberdeen. The other locations were in Dundee, Leeds, Brighton, Oxford, Sheffield, York and three in London.
In 2021, former staff of BrewDog accused the company and Watt of creating a “culture of fear” in which workers were bullied and “treated like objects”. In an open letter that was shared on social media the company was accused of cutting corners on health and safety, espousing values it did not live by, and creating a “toxic” culture that left staff suffering from mental illness.
The company released a statement in response to the open letter, acknowledging that “on many occasions we haven’t got it right. We are committed to doing better, not just as a reaction to this, but always; and we are going to reach out to our entire team past and present to learn more. But most of all, right now, we are sorry”.
Last year, Watt made headlines by posting on LinkedIn that he was considering delaying his marriage to Georgia Toffolo to avoid missing out on tax relief for investing in the reality TV star’s dog food business. The pair ended up marrying in March.
Watt and Toffolo came under scrutiny from some of BrewDog’s army of “equity punks” after the pair were spotted at Nigel Farage’s 60th birthday party in 2024.
