Halewood Artisanal Spirits has blamed weak demand for its vodka and ginger beer brands for another year of sliding sales.
The Whitley Neill gin, JJ Whitley vodka and Crabbie’s ginger beer supplier saw net revenues slide by £19m in the period ended 29 June 2024, accounts filed at Companies House this week have revealed.
Some £14m of the sales slide reflected “decreased revenue, primarily reductions in vodka and Crabbie’s ginger beer”, said Halewood director Judith Halewood.
The remaining £5m “related to the focus away from low-margin non-core activities in the UK” including third-party and own-label contract manufacturing agreements, she added.
Turnover at Halewood has fallen from £401.5m in 2020 to just £127.8m as the company has sought to rationalise operations amid falling sales.
Widespread cost-cutting measures and restructuring efforts contributed to operating losses falling 10.1% to £18.8m. But a 45.6% leap in the cost of financing existing borrowing meant losses before tax remained near-flat, declining 2.1% to £23.3m.
In response to rising material costs, wages and freight charges it had been necessary to make “a material reduction in headcount” and scale back on international expansion efforts, Halewood said. This contributed to some £901k of exceptional items recorded in FY24.
“Given the macro headwinds… and the knock-on effect on consumer spend items, including premium spirits, the focus has continued to be upon restructuring the business to meet the challenges,” said Halewood.
To mitigate inflationary pressures, the supplier was committed to continuing to “source lower-cost raw materials from China”, she revealed. Additionally it was focused on “driving down operational overhead and improving production efficiency partly by utilising third-party manufacture”.
Despite this, “artisanal spirits remain the core to the business”, Halewood insisted.
In September, Halewood consolidated its beer and spirits production in Cumbria, resulting in the closure of its Hawkshead Brewery and Beer Hall in Staveley.
In January 2025, it completed the sale of a former distillery in Chorley for a sum of £5.5m. Net proceeds of £3m were used to “pay down debts and loans secured over mixed assets”, with a further £1m used to “pay down the debtor financing facility”, it said.
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