Exports now account for around 80% of the brewer's sales

Scottish craft brewer Innis & Gunn has reported a healthy rise in full-year sales after a strong performance in the US, Canada and the UK due to on-going investment.

The company, which this year celebrated its tenth anniversary, saw sales up 23% to GBP9.14m (US$14.77m) year-on-year in calendar-2012. Case sales to the US doubled in the year to around 100,000, the Edinburgh based brewer reported today (30 September). 

In Canada, the group's volumes grew by 15% year-on-year. In Sweden, the company's core Innis & Gunn brand overtook Newcastle Brown Ale as top-selling import ale brand, based on figures from the state-run chain Systembolaget.

Exports now account for 80% of the brewer's sales.

“The motivation for us has never been to get our product out to as many countries as possible,” said Dougal Sharp, Innis & Gunn's founder. “It’s been about building real scale in a few markets.” 

In the UK, the company's volumes rose 10%.

The brewer invested GBP1.5M in working capital, infrastructure and manpower in 2012, the first year of a three-year investment programme.

The company also introduced draught products in 2012, which now account for 11% of its global volumes.