Charles Wells sees sales rise despite loss of Red Stripe and Corona brewing deals

Pub company and brewer Charles Wells has seen its 2012 sales rise by £1m, despite the loss of income from a deal to brew Red Stripe and Corona under license.

The group, which incorporates Wells & Young's Brewing Company, Charles Wells Pub Company and France-based pub firm John Bull Pub Company, saw sales increase to £189m for the year to 29 September 2012, while profit after tax fell to £6m, down from £6.6m the year before.

The company said it had anticipated a drop in profit as the full effect of losing Corona and Red Stripe was felt, it had managed to mitigate that effect through the acquisition of the McEwan's and Younger's brands in October 2011.

The brewing company now owns 80% of its brands, as opposed to 2005 when the portfolio consisted of 80% licensed brands. It grew owned beers by 2.1% in the financial year. International beer sales recorded another year of double-digit sales growth and an increased margin growth, up 27.7% on the year. The wine company, Cockburn & Campbell, saw overall sales growth of 6%, with wine volume rising 2.8% in an on-trade market declining 5%.

Meanwhile, Charles Wells Pub Company bought four sites during the year. Turnover in the pub company decreased by 4.9% but like-for-like sales were up 1.2%, with EBITDA per pub up 3.8%. The business continued its planned disposal strategy with the sale of 22 pubs.

Charles Wells has made two new appointments. Justin Phillimore is appointed to the role of managing director of Wells & Young's Brewing, the brewing and brands division of the company. Phillimore has been with the company for six years and is moving from his current role as group finance director of Charles Wells.

Andrea Holton also joins as HR director for Charles Wells from DHL where she was most recently vice president HR for UK and Ireland.

Paul Wells, chairman of Charles Wells, said: "Our performance this year has been in line with expectations and we have invested for the future through acquisition of beer brands and high quality pubs in the UK and France. Our international sales and pub operations have demonstrated that growth is possible at home and overseas, despite the difficulties of the global economy and our wine company has also delivered excellent growth.

"It's good to see that so many licensees who run a Charles Wells brewery pub are outperforming the market and within our core estate we have seen some exceptional achievements. Our support packages have helped us to attract some of the highest calibre licensees and help them be successful in their pub and this has contributed to lifting the average length of tenure over six years."

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