Sales at Adnams rose 6.2% to 74.8m for the 12 months to December 31, the brewer, distiller and pub owner has revealed. Operating profit was down 45% to £2.2m but there had been much investment during the year.
The investment included: transformation of The Swan, Southwold, into an iconic destination; completion of a three-year investment project in the brewery, giving improved capacity and flexibility; the start of a project to install equipment to make low-alcohol beer and pave the way for the introduction of an alcohol-free version of Ghost Ship in May 2018; and an IT systems upgrade that will continue into 2018.
Chairman, Jonathan Adnams OBE, said: “2017 was a year of huge investment. We saw some inevitable disruption, but we delivered substantial change.
“We continue to focus on what matters most — to deliver a service and product which allows us to stand out from the crowd, to grow the business when and where appropriate, answering increasing market demand, and, above all, to delight our new and loyal customers in everything we do.”
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index, said: “Despite Adnams reporting pre-tax profits 69% lower than in 2016, at £1.549 million, its results were by no means all bad news. A 6.4% increase in revenue, with beer revenue up 9% thanks to increased diversification, in addition to the runaway success of Copper House Gin and the re-opening of the Swan Hotel, puts Adnams on a solid footing for the year ahead.
“This coming year. Adnams will be well positioned to reap the rewards of the eye-watering levels of investment from the previous year. Good timely communication from management to shareholders over the weaker bottom line has meant that the share price hasn’t suffered any heavy sell-off today and, in fact, is trading over 2.5% higher.”
