By James Atkinson
Western Australia's Gage Roads Brewing Co has announced its sales for the second quarter of 2011-12 have "rebounded dramatically", and the company is set to purchase a new 100 hectolitre brew house.
Gage Roads this week announced a 100 per cent increase in sales volume in comparison to the first quarter, and the brewer said a number of production records were achieved during December.
"These included the highest daily production volume record of 13,520 cases of high quality production within a 24-hour shift, the highest number of truck movements through the logistics facility within a 24-hour period and the highest sales achieved in a calendar month of just over 170,000 cartons sold in December," the company said.
It said the quarter's sales growth was predominantly driven by its ongoing commitment to support part owner Woolworths' private label strategy and the increase in demand for brands such as Dry Dock, Clipper Light, Bolt (low carb), Castaway Apple Cider and Castaway Pear Cider.
"A 25 per cent increase in production volumes for other contract customers (in comparison to the half year ended December 2010) also contributed to this quarter's positive result," Gage Roads said.
"The company also saw a pleasing 97 per cent growth (in comparison to the half year ended December 2010) in the sales volumes of our propriety brands, including Gage Roads Premium Lager, Wahoo Premium Ale, Sleeping Giant IPA, Atomic Pale Ale and Pils Premium Mid Strength."
Gage Roads said the second quarter sales result had contributed towards reversing the lower than average sales experienced during the first quarter.
The company also confirmed the signing of a letter of intent with Krones of Germany, to purchase a 100 hectolitre CombiCube brew house and ancillary
equipment worth $3.3 million – an upgrade flagged in July last year.
"Krones' engineers were on site in early January to assist in value-engineering the remaining components of the project," it said.
"Manufacturing and installation will take around eight months and the first commercial brew is expected to be in late September 2012 in time for the busy summer period."
"This new brew house is a significant contributor towards the company’s goal to reduce operating costs by 50 per cent by 2015," the brewer added.
Gage Roads will release its total half year results in late February.