Moth sales top £20m amid ready-to-drink cocktail boom

Canned cocktail brand Moth has surpassed £20m in turnover amid widening distribution and surging sales in the US.

The challenger brand, set up by Rob Wallis and Samuel Hunt in 2019, grew revenues by 67.3% to £20.9m in the 12 months ended 31 January 2026, newly filed accounts at Companies House show.

Turnover growth reflected “strong distribution gains and brand momentum, particularly in the off-trade channel”, said Wallis. 

Moth has been one of the major beneficiaries of booming interest in ready-to-drink cocktails in the UK, sales of which are up by almost £190m, on volumes up 16.7% [NIQ 52 w/e 8 August 2026].

However, Moth was “growing three times faster than the category” demonstrating the strength of “consumer and retailer demand” for its pre-mixed margaritas and martinis, Wallis added. 

Meanwhile, US revenues at Moth have increased more than more than five-fold, rising from £124k to £677k.

The brand’s push into the US remained at “an early stage of market development” but it had “gained strong traction in securing distribution listings” in the market, Wallis said.

Narrowing losses

Despite strong sales growth, Moth remains loss-making, with pre-tax losses widening to £4.8m, up from £3.6m in the year prior.

Operating losses grew by 30% to £4.0m, although the business reduced its operating loss margin by 5.5 percentage points as it benefited from improved supply chain efficiencies and greater scale. Gross margin improved by 0.8ppts, to 37.0%.

Ongoing losses reflected “a deliberate period of investment in distribution growth, brand momentum, NPD and operations required to build scale as well as investing in the US”, Wallis said.

Moth added 18 staff during the year, taking its workforce from 34 to 52. Staff costs, meanwhile, rose 75.5% to £4.2m.

In July, Moth closed an £11m fundraising round to support expansion in the UK and US. The round was led by Puma Growth Partners and supported by Guinness Ventures, Beringea and Rianta Capital.

In the UK, the brand’s ready-to-drink canned cocktails, which include margarita, espresso martini, cosmopolitan and mojito variants, are sold in retailers including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons and Asda.