Australian craft drinks industry accelerator Mighty Craft has outlined its key focus areas for growth over the next financial year.

The company reported increased revenue for the year of $29.3m, up 218 per cent on last year, with wholesale spirits and RTD sales delivering 305 per cent growth. However its reported EBITDA was a loss of $12.2m, coming after a loss of $7.2m last year.

Despite the losses Mighty Craft’s Managing Director Mark Haysman was bullish about the year ahead, outlining key growth areas for the business including the relaunch of Kangaroo Island Spirits, the continued integration of the Adelaide Hills Group and diverting funds to off-premise growth initiatives.

Haysman said: “This is no doubt a tough time for our retail venues and on-premise business which makes up roughly half of the group sales. The lack of certainty over the next six months due to the highly infectious Delta strain, makes it difficult to plan with confidence.

We are laser focused on keeping our staff and customers safe, while diverting resources and funding towards off-premise growth initiatives and accelerating growth in D2C spirits sales. There is light at the end of the tunnel with the current trend in vaccination rates across the country, in that we will return to normal in the not-too-distant future and we will be in a position to capitalise on the resulting opportunities when this occurs.

That said the early stages of integration with Adelaide Hills Group is progressing well, with the cultural alignment very strong, and we remain confident in our ability to execute despite the current challenges, and look forward to providing further updates to shareholders as we move through H1”

The company said that the relaunch of Kangaroo Island, planned for October 2021 will be a key growth driver for FY22, with the launch to be focused on the off-premise, which it said will help ensure strong sales traction will follow in the on-premise.

In addition the redevelopment of the distillery is expected to be completed by the end of the first half of FY22, with both gin and whisky production stills to be commissioned and operational.

In outlining some of its capital management plans for the year ahead Mighty Craft said it is working on reducing costs “as much as possible across the business and accessing all available government stimulus”.

The company said it is confident it has the capital management initiatives in place to be able to execute the FY22 growth strategy and “is confident that the current challenges are short term in nature”.

Andy Young

Andy joined Intermedia as Editor of The Shout in 2015, writing news on a daily basis and also writing features for National Liquor News. Now Managing Editor of both The Shout and Bars and Clubs.

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