Thomas Hardy Holdings, the contract brewer and drinks packaging company, has reported a 6.7% fall in full-year pre-tax profits to £1.7m in what it called a “challenging but rewarding year”.
Brewing volumes in the year to 30 September fell 19% to 188,000 due to the “scaling down of brewing volumes from one customer”. “Work to replace the lost volume has begun with other customer volumes during the year rising to 48,000 barrels, up significantly from 23,000 barrels in 2012.”
Bottling volumes also declined, by 22%, to 273,000 barrels. The company said: “This was expected as 2011 and 2012 contained two short term bottling opportunities for international brewing companies, which came to an end before the start of the year. The current year volume was 98% of the budgeted figure.”
Operating profit fell 6.2% to £1.8m.
The company changed the way it reported turnover in the year to exclude excise duty in order to “present a more meaningful measure”. Turnover in the year was £18.9m (2012: £22.7m) but Thomas Hardy said the decline “is not representative of the activity taken”.
Thomas Hardy said: “2013 has been a challenging but rewarding year for the group.
“One of the major brewing contract volumes reduced significantly in the middle of the year. The management response in controlling costs and mitigating the impact on profits has produced an excellent result.”
