(Alliance News) - Stock Spirits Group PLC on Wednesday raised its ordinary annual dividend, and also made a special payout amid a fall in profit, due to higher one-off expenses.
For the financial year to the end of September, the owner and producer of premium branded spirits and liqueurs reported a pretax profit of EUR29.9 million, down 22% year-on-year from EUR38.4 million.
Stocks Spirits's profit performance was hurt by a rise in selling expenses to EUR65.9 million from EUR61.0 million, and in exceptional costs to EUR25.7 million from EUR15.5 million.
The one-off expenses included an EUR14.1 million impairment of the investment in Quintessential Brands Ireland Whiskey Ltd, as the effect of the pandemic led to the fair value of the investment becoming lower than the carrying value.
Revenue for the year however, grew by 9.2% to EUR341.0 million from EUR312.4 million, on volume growth by 3.0% to 14.8 million nine litre cases from 14.4 million cases.
On a constant currency basis, revenue grew by 6.9%. The group said revenue growth was driven by contributions from spirits firm Bartida in the Czech Republic, which Stock Spirits acquired in May 2019 for EUR7.3 million, and an outperformance of the vodka market in Poland.
This was all in spite of spirits excise tax increases in both countries.
Stock Spirits declared a final ordinary dividend of 6.78 euro cents per share, bringing the total payout to 9.55 cents, up 7.4% from 8.94 cents the year before.
In addition, the group declared a special dividend of 11 euro cents. Stock Spirits said that it would consider additional distributions to shareholders if it is unable to make any acquisitions during the year, and it does not expect to complete one in the near-term due to the Covid-19 situation.
Looking ahead, Stock Spirits said uncertainty remains in the short-term due to the continued pandemic, but continue to see opportunities for future growth in its markets.
"We are pleased to have delivered a resilient performance against the backdrop of a hugely challenging year. In the first half, we successfully navigated excise tax increases in our largest markets of Poland and the Czech Republic. In the second half, we prioritised protecting and supporting our employees, customers, suppliers and the communities around us in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic," said Chief Executive Officer Mirek Stachowicz.
Shares in Stock Spirits were up 6.7% at 259.25 pence on Wednesday in London.
By Dayo Laniyan; dayolaniyan@alliancenews.com
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