BrewDog posts £37m loss as sales growth slows to just 1%
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,Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionThe 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.
Want wines with attitude? Look to the Jura
If you’ve heard of savagnin (nope, not sauvignon), you may well be one of those in-the-know wine drinkers who have been ushered in the direction of the Jura, this grape’s iconic region, after being priced out of your favourite burgundy. And while there are some similarities between the two regions, a focus on chardonnay and pinot noir being the most obvious, there are plenty of other varieties for discerning wine nerds, and savagnin is definitely one of them.It’s a grape variety that’s been grown in France for 900 years, with high acidity and a late-ripening in the vineyard, and it’s known for the complex, age-worthy styles of wine it can create. It’s also grown just over the border in Switzerland, where it’s known as heida, as well as in Australia, where it was once mistaken for albariño. In the Jura, however, this high-acid grape produces nuanced still wines, and wines made in the vin jaune style, for which the wine is matured under yeast to give it a nutty, complex character akin to that of a biologically aged sherry such as fino
Back to school, work, reality: what to eat now summer is over
The shift from August to September can be brutal, so we’ve compiled the best dishes to avoid the dread of the work canteenSeptember arrives and, with it, the sudden, brutal gear shift from slow, lazy August, the mad rush to catch up on all the work you’ve been neglecting, to reconnect with the friends who’ve been away during summer. It’s back to the commute, back to work, back to school …We are also back at school – every Thursday for the past few years we’ve been taking pottery classes at college. From 10 in the morning until five in the evening we are covered in clay; our muddy fingers cannot check the phone every five minutes, and everyone at work knows not to contact us unless it’s an emergency – and even then, only if there’s something we can actually do about it.This also means that, for the first time since high school, we don’t have an obvious lunch solution. Our working life may lack many things, but as chefs our access to fresh, delicious food isn’t one of them
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As he breaks three eggs into a glass bowl, Lt Columbo tells Joanna Ferris: “I’m the worst cook in the world, but there’s one thing I do terrific, and that’s an omelette.” The episode is Murder By the Book, and Columbo has taken Joanna, the wife of murder victim Jim Ferris, home to save her from more relentless questioning by his colleagues. Of course, we already know it was Jim’s less talented writing partner, naughty Ken Franklin, who did it.At first, Joanna resists Columbo’s offer of something to eat, but he gently gets on with it, in his trademark raincoat: he cracks the eggs into a bowl, picks out a bit of shell that inadvertently falls into the bowl and asks Joanna where he can get a bowl for the empty shells balanced in his hands. It is a perfect scene and perfect Columbo: bumbling and absolutely certain, attentive to needs and tiny details
Sweeteners can harm cognitive health equivalent to 1.6 years of ageing, study finds
Sweeteners found in yoghurts and fizzy drinks can damage people’s ability to think and remember, and appear to cause “long-term harm” to health, research has found.People who consumed the largest amount of sweeteners such as aspartame and saccharin saw a 62% faster decline in their cognitive powers – the equivalent to their having aged 1.6 years, researchers say.They concluded: “Our findings suggest the possibility of long-term harm from low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCs) consumption, particularly artificial LNCs and sugar alcohols, on cognitive function.”The findings are the latest to warn about the dangers posed by sweeteners
Berries are back! Australia’s best-value fruit and veg for September
Strawberries are down to $3 a punnet, cauliflower is $2.50 a head and Hass avocados ‘should be on everyone’s menu’Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email“Springtime is tricky with fruit, because you’re getting rid of your winter citrus and the exotic summer stuff hasn’t started yet,” says owner and buyer Josh Flamminio at Sydney’s Galluzzo Fruiterers. But there are hints of what’s to come.“Mangoes have already started from the Northern Territory. We’re selling two for $10 at the moment,” Flamminio says
Cheap, healthy, sustainable and delicious – why mussels are a no-brainer
Fans say they’re the perfect food. No wonder they’re having a moment on restaurant menus. But how hard is this shellfish to prepare at home?It might be that they’re cheap. It might be that they’re healthy. But, in all likelihood, it’s “because they are just delicious”, says seafood chef Mitch Tonks
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