BrewDog, the self-styled “punk” craft beer maker, is on course to double its profits as it gears up for an assault on the US market.
The Scottish brewery released draft results showing annual turnover up 52% to £45m, as it more than doubled UK sales thanks to a growing thirst for craft beer.
While the company is yet to release a full set of accounts for 2015, it said operating profits had grown by 112% annually since 2011. If that rate of growth was repeated last year, BrewDog will report an operating profit of close to £8m when it releases full figures this month.
The strong performance strengthens the beer-maker’s position as it plots a move into the US market that will lead to a more than tenfold increase in production over two years.
BrewDog plans to open a brewery in Columbus, Ohio, in August as part of an expansion drive that will increase its output from 160,000 hectolitres a year at the beginning of last year to 1.5m - equivalent to about 264m pints - by the end of 2016. It will also export its Equity for Punks crowdfunding scheme to the US for the first time, offering Americans the chance to buy into the company.
Investors who take part in Equity for Punks will be invited to the company’s beer-fuelled annual meeting in Aberdeen, Scotland, featuring brewery visits, a presentation by founders James Watt and Martin Dickie and a performance by indie band Idlewild.
These incentives, as well as discounts on BrewDog beer, have helped the company raise about £20m since 2010, more money than has been raised by any other business through crowdfunding.
However, sceptics have pointed out that for all the bells and whistles attached to share ownership, the price of equity implies a disproportionately high value for the company.
Watt has made a name for himself and BrewDog, a name inspired by his now deceased chocolate labrador Bracken, with high-profile stunts and outspoken views. This has included criticism of rival craft brewers who sell out to multinational beer giants and stunts such as driving a tank through the streets of London.
Watt has also used Twitter to send cryptic messages about rejecting takeover offers from rivals keen to take his company out.
— James Watt (@BrewDogJames) January 28, 2016
Bigger companies want to buy BrewDog. Go away silly big companies. BrewDog is not for sale. Especially not to you.
The past year has seen BrewDog press on as an independent business, launching the world’s strongest canned beer, the 12.7% Black Eyed King Imp. It also attracted controversy when it produced what it terms the “world’s first transgender beer”, called No Label.
BrewDog has opened a string of bars aimed at craft beer fans and expects to open additional branches this year in Amsterdam, Warsaw, York, Berlin, and the Homerton and Dalston areas of Hackney, east London.
“Last year was a great year for BrewDog in an of itself but it was also about laying the foundations for the next five years of growth,” Watt said.
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