Distil losses almost halved, eyes increased sales

9th Jun 2014 08:03

- Full-year losses almost halved - Increasing European profile, appoints Spanish distributor- Well placed for growing sales, launching new productsDistil, owner of premium drinks brands including Blavod Black Vodka, Blackwoods Gin and Vodka and RedLeg Spiced Rum, said operating losses for the year to end-March almost halved and said it is well placed to focus on growing sales and launching new products later this year.The group reported an operating loss of £367,000 for the year ended March 31st from a loss of £619,000 the prior year. Sales for the period fell to £2.4m from £3.8m before. "The current year loss relates solely to ongoing activities. The prior year operating loss comprised £299,000 of non recurring expenses related to an aborted acquisition and a trading loss of £320,000 which related to ongoing activities," the group explained..Distil reported a 36% increase in sales of Blackwoods Gin and 37% increase in RedLeg Spiced Rum. It also launched Blackwoods Vintage Dry Gin, Blackwoods Limited Edition 60% ABV Gin and Blackwoods Vodka.Blavod's Executive Chairman Don Goulding said: "We have continued to transform the business by focussing on selling our own brands through distributors and have successfully developed and launched new products which have been well received in the market. Inevitably these financial results reflect the costs of these changes. "However the majority of these costs are non-recurring in nature and having successfully raised additional working capital (from our very supportive shareholders) earlier in the year, we are now well placed to concentrate on growing sales further and launching new products later this year."Distil said it has appointed a Spanish distributor to bolster its international network.CJ