The UK brewing force, Young & Co., posted pre-tax profits of £9.4m for the year to the end of March, up 6.1% from the previous year.
EBITDA rose by 2.7% to £19.3m on turnover up 1.5% at £107.8m. The company also reported adjusted profit before tax of £8.6m, up 0.1% from last year.
Chairman John Young said: “It is hard to imagine a more challenging set of market conditions than those which faced the business during the past year. We expect a rather more stable, albeit still challenging environment going forward, but it is too early to predict how the year will turn out.”
The company said that free trade sales and exports now account for 60.8% of its beer volumes compared with 49.6% five years ago. In the year to March, free trade volumes were up by 4%. Export volumes were down 4.6% principally due to a decline in demand for British beers in the US, while export business grew in Finland, Sweden and Italy.
