Ghost Ship brewer Adnams has overcome sales headwinds to slash its operating losses by two-thirds (62.1%) in the first half of 2025.
While sales at the Suffolk brewer and distiller fell to £30.1m, down 5.7% compared to H1 2024, Adnams has made considerable progress towards its goals of cutting debt and getting back into the black.
“Trading in both on and off-channels has been challenging,” Adnams said in a half-year trading statement, while noting evidence it was beating the market in key areas.
“In the off-trade, sales to supermarkets performed 2% better than the market in the first six months of the year. In our on-trade business, June was particularly strong with growth of 3.3%, compared to an 8.5% decline in the market.”
The business’s turnaround efforts – ongoing in earnest since December 2024, when Adnams said it was no longer pursuing a sale to pay off its debts – have been repaid on the balance sheet.
Before exceptional costs, the business managed to turn a £476k operating profit – up from a £1.3m loss the year before. Operating costs were likewise cut 5.4% thanks in part to an 11% reduction in overheads.
“This is a considerable achievement given the rising costs of the national living wage, National Insurance contribution changes and the ongoing costs of EPR,” said Adnams chairman Simon Townsend. These are expected to cost the business £2m in 2025.
Cutting debt and making changes
Despite ongoing efforts to cut losses, the surprise charge of backdated EPR fees for 2024 took Adnams into an overall operating loss of £678k, following an exceptional £1.2m charge.
“In common with many UK brewers, we have incurred a charge for 2024 packaging despite being unable to recover these costs from our customers,” Townsend said.
By the end of June, Adnams had managed to cut its debt to £11.7m, down from £18.2m at the same time last year. It now expects debt to have fallen to around £8m by the end of September.
Reductions were achieved through the sale of largely non-trading assets, with disposals to conclude “imminently” now the company’s debt is at a “more sustainable level” for the business, according to Townsend.
“Achieving the planned timeline for such a level of debt reduction has reinforced our strong relationship with Barclays, who have actively demonstrated their willingness to collaborate with us as a true partner,” he said.
On 1 September, Adnams appointed Andy Driscoll as its new permanent chief financial officer, replacing Robin Paul, who had stood in as interim funding director at the business.
Townsend thanked Paul for his “outstanding support” in a challenging period for the business.
“We have much work to do as we implement our sales and marketing plans to enable the business to grow again into areas of opportunity,” he added.
“With the benefit of a stable balance sheet and substantially lower debt, and by driving a much greater degree of commerciality across the business, we can look to the future with confidence.”
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