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Spitfire, Bishops Finger and Hürlimann lager brewer Shepherd Neame looks to have emerged from the recession with its glass overflowing.
In fact demand for its bottled beers, up 29% in the year to end-June, was so great that it had to outsource some of its bottling. That cost it money but kept its shop sales steaming ahead while pub sales were falling as more people choose to drink at home.
London pubs, including the newly acquired Jamaica Wine House in the City, outperformed the rest of the largely Kent-based estate.
The strongest growth came for Asahi Super Dry, the Japanese beer brewed under licence, but Spitfire and Bishops Finger kept their top 10 places in off-trade sales.
Turnover rose 7.6% to £109.5 million on beer volumes up 6.3%. but higher raw materials costs and falling earnings at the smallest pubs saw pre-tax profits drop 20% to £6.9 million.
But since the year end the new faster bottling line has come on stream, costs are falling and beer sales are up by more than 10%.
Chief executive Jonathan Neame called it an “encouraging start to the year”.
