Brockmans Gin doubles UK sales as supermarket expansion pays off
High-end spirit producer Brockmans Gin nearly doubled UK revenues in the first six months of the year, and grew by a third globally.
First-half revenue increased 35 per cent to £4.73m from £3.5m in the same period of 2017, while the company’s UK sales climbed 90 per cent, outstripping market growth of 38 per cent.
The Surrey-based company expanded to 400 Asda stores, 275 Marks & Spencers, and 250 branches of Morrisons. It also started a cooperation with northern high-end supermarket Booths, which now stocks the spirit in 28 shops.
Chief executive Neil Everitt said: “The UK is our fastest growing market and it's going great guns. Our move into the supermarkets has helped new drinkers discover the brand as well as making Brockmans easier to find for existing fans.”
The company said its products will be sold 40 countries by year-end, adding Argentina and Cyprus to its list, after recent steps into Slovakia, Bahrain, and Lebanon.
Brockmans Gin shipped almost 350,000 litres of its drink, enough for 14m gin and tonics.
“Starting with bars and restaurants before widening our presence to retailers is a model that's working for us in the UK and so we’re repeating the formula in several other markets,” Everitt said.
Revenues increased 35 per cent year on year during the first half in Germany, Brockmans’ second fastest growing market. It will go on sale in more than 50 stores of German retailing giant Metro next week.
The UK gin market rose to a record £2.2bn in the 12 months to June, while yearly sales in the UK and of British gin overseas have doubled in the last five years, figures from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association show. Gin now accounts for 68 per cent of value growth in the UK spirits sector.
However, a planned 3.4 per cent duty rise, which is expected in the Chancellor’s autumn budget “would undermine an ambitious industry looking to go global,” the WSTA said.