Lucas Bols saw revenues fall but depletions rise in its last financial year before the change of ownership at the distiller.
The Passoã brand owner, now under the majority ownership of fellow Netherlands-based distiller Nolet Group, booked a 4% drop in revenue to €96.6m ($104.9m) for the year to the end of March. Depletions, however, were up 3% year on year.
CEO Huub van Doorne said: “Adverse market circumstances accelerated in the second quarter of our financial year, impacting our business performance. Customers have destocked heavily following a significant increase in interest rates, and consumers are much more wary when it comes to how and where they spend their money.
“Nevertheless, we saw an increase in depletions, evidencing the resilience of our cocktail strategy and strong brands.”
The company’s Bols Cocktails portfolio saw depletions rise at a “high single-digit rate”. Depletions of Passoã and Galliano declined.
Nolet, the family-owned maker of Ketel One vodka, made a bid to buy Lucas Bols in 2023.
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By GlobalDataAn offer valuing the liqueurs and Tequila business at €269.5m ($284.1m) was backed by Lucas Bols’ management and supervisory boards.
Nolet had been a shareholder in Lucas Bols since the cocktail maker listed in 2015.
In February, the offer was declared unconditional and the companies announced Nolet had acquired more than 75% of Lucas Bols’ shares.
Lucas Bols generated an operating profit of €12.5m during the year, versus a loss of €9.1m in the previous 12 months.
The company said its “normalised operating profit” stood at €15.1m, a figure it said was “in line with a year earlier”.
Its normalised net profit was €9.1m, against €10.1m the year previous.
Last month, Lucas Bols agreed a deal to distribute The Muff Liquor Co.’s products in the US.
Muff Liquor was founded in 2017 in Donegal by Laura Bonner. The company’s main products are potato-based vodka and gin spirits. It also produces a five-part blended whiskey.
