Stock Spirits issued a Q1 trading update earlier today

Stock Spirits has warned that it expects its performance in the first half of this year to be "weak", although full-year numbers should finish in line with expectations.

The UK-based spirits company, which operates mainly in Central & Eastern Europe, said in a trading update today that the first three months of 2015 have been "extremely weak". Although Stock did not give specific figures, it did flag continued supply chain disruptions in its main market of Poland as dragging on performance.

The firm posted declining adjusted EBITDA and sales for the 12 months of 2014 in March, with Poland being flagged at the time as "remaining difficult moving into 2015". The country's authorities introduced a 15% increase in excise duty on spirits in January last year, affecting inventory levels.

"The first quarter (in Poland) was extremely weak," said Stock today, "but we have been encouraged by the re-emergence of more normal trading conditions in the six weeks since Easter.

"We … anticipate reporting a weak overall result for H1, but with a continued recovery in H2 we expect our full-year results to be in line with expectations," the company added.

Stock's share price dipped in morning trading although they were up by 0.8% to GBP1.865 at 1100 BST today.

Half-year results will be announced on 20 August.