It’s five years this week since Private Eye published an analysis of the financial affairs of the ‘crafty brewer’ Brewdog. The brewer and pub company last made a pre-tax profit in 2019 of £1.1m. Its most recent results in October 2024 showed a £59m loss albeit on increased turnover
The nub of the Eye’s analysis was contained in these sentences
‘it is not suggested that any of these transactions are illegal or improper. The question is whether they are appropriate for a company with 100,000 other shareholders’
Of interest it notes that while a profit of £3.8m was made in 2016 this had reduced to £1.4m in 2017 and by 2018 had become a pre-tax loss of £576,000
It also notes:
When the private equity deal with TSG was announced in April 2017, it was stated to have involved a total of £213m, including £100m for new shares to fund Brewdog. The normal private equity playbook would look for an exit by sale or listing within five years
The Eye analysis focuses on a Company named JBW77 that appears to be linked to Brewdog founder James Watt and various holdings, transactions and deals that it has been involved in. As a union officer that deals with very large companies (which Brewdog is not) I’m not sure there is anything hugely unusual about it.
The issue of course lies between how Brewdog markets itself, as a sort of rebel against the traditional beer industry, and the reality of the business it carries on which might well be described as traditional.
In fact Brewdog has just appointed its second CEO in a year as the replacement for James Watt has departed.
The issue is surely whether, particularly given current global market conditions, and IPO is on the cards or alternatively whether there any buyers interested in taking it on
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