BrewDog AU said it faced a “tough start” to the year, as although revenues rose, losses continued.

Flooding as well as the ongoing impacts of COVID during Q1 impacted many hospitality businesses in the first quarter and BrewDog was no different.

According to documents filed with ASIC, revenues for the six months to 30th June 2022 rose to $4.2 million from $3.6 million in the same period last year. However, the cost of sales grew considerably as well, from $2.3 million to $3 million. Retail revenues declined very slightly from $3.40 million last year to $3.39 million.

BrewDog AU returned a total loss of $755,000, an increase on the $306,000 loss it made in the same period the year before.

On a brighter note, wholesale beer revenues rose considerably following an investment in distribution in Brisbane and interstate, bringing in $780,000 compared to $181,000 last year.

“Half year results are the story of a tough start, and a strong finish for both retail – our taproom – and wholesale, which was unfortunately common for the industry in SE QLD for the first quarter,” explained BrewDog’s Australian general manager Ed Bott.

“January was heavily impacted by COVID in SE QLD as case numbers exploded and isolation rules still firmly in place.

“Then in February SE QLD and Northern NSW were severely impacted by flooding, which heavily impacted both retail and wholesale sales. Those two months alone represent most of our losses in the first half of 2022.

“In a nutshell, like many businesses in our industry, we unfortunately weren’t immune from the impacts of COVID and the natural flood disaster in SEQ and Northern NSW, in the first quarter of 2022.”

Bott did say that the outlook was brighter for the rest of the year.

“Since March, we’ve posted positive EBITDA results every month, grown our wholesale sales by 42 per cent and Retail (taproom) by 15 per cent YTD Sept, and doubled our EBITDA vs 2021.

“We continue to invest in the brewery, recently doubling our capacity, in retail, in our brands and people – expanded our production and sales teams – and we’re super excited with our plans to open three BrewDog bars in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney before the end of 2022.”

BrewDog has teamed up with Australian Venue Co. for two of its new sites, and will be opening its Brisbane Fortitude Valley site next month.

The multinational brewery, based in Scotland, is also expanding its production capacity with four new 100hL fermentation vessels allowing it to double its capacity. BrewDog has also brought in a new brewer James Bevan, formerly of Thornbridge Brewery in the UK, to assist the team.