Cornwall’s St Austell Brewery has returned to profit with a 33% rise in sales as it recovers from the worst of the pandemic. The family-owned, independent brewer has seen turnover reach £156.6m, giving an operating profit of £11.3m.
Their published accounts for the year to 1st January 2022 show a strong recovery for the company who operate 178 pubs across the South West. It sustained a £10m pre-tax loss during the Covid pandemic and achieved these results despite all its pubs and hotels being closed for the first four months of the financial year.
Will Michelmore, non-executive chairman at St Austell Brewery, said: “I am delighted to report that, despite the ongoing disruption we continued to face in 2021, our latest financial results show a return to profitability as the company continued to recover from the impact of the pandemic. Due to lockdown and pubs remaining closed, the financial year started under a cloud of uncertainty, although we continued to supply our beer brands to supermarkets nationwide at record trading levels.
“It’s very encouraging to report that once pubs were able to reopen, we managed to enjoy strong trading results. This will stand us in good stead for 2022 and beyond, as we look to build on our solid foundations and release the full potential of the business. Whilst we know there will continue to be significant headwinds, we are confident that we have the leadership, the team, the assets, and the strategy to ensure our future success.”
Kevin Georgel, chief executive of St Austell Brewery, said: “Although our 2021 results were impacted by lockdown at the start of the year, we went on to experience unprecedented levels of demand in the South West, particularly during the first four months after pubs reopened. Therefore, our main challenge for the remainder of the year was maintaining supply to meet this demand, whilst continuing to deliver a positive experience for all of our customers.
“This challenge was made even more difficult by the national labour shortage and failings within the supply chain. In this context, we are extremely proud of our teams across the business for overcoming every obstacle and achieving such strong results. I am confident that as we move forward, we have emerged better placed to embrace the opportunities that lie ahead.
“We entered 2022 in a much stronger financial position with a clear strategic direction that will enable us to unlock our potential. We have significant headroom in our available funding, which will allow us to invest in growing the business, whilst pursuing fitting acquisition opportunities.
“We are continuing to invest in our pub estate which is well positioned to take advantage of emerging consumer trends, and our beer business is delivering significantly improved returns as we curate a brand portfolio that’s fit for the future. Critically, we are also committed to continued investment in recruitment and the development of our people. Attracting talent to our business and releasing the potential of our teams is more important than ever.
“We recognise that we will continue to face significant headwinds due to the inflationary pressures affecting all businesses and the ongoing challenges in the labour market, which are particularly acute in our region. Despite all this we remain confident and optimistic about our long-term growth prospects.”
