Spirits are down as Stock Spirits Group announces drops in 2015 results
Stock Spirits Group, the central European-focused vodka and spirits producer, saw a drop of around €30m (£23.4m) to €262.6m (£204.9) in total revenue over 2015 after a year of "disruption" in the Polish spirits market, as the company announced its preliminary full-year financial results.
Operating profit decreased 22.3 per cent to €41.7m (£32.5m) from €53.6m (£41.8m) over 2015, while sales dropped from 14.4m nine-litre cases to 11.8m nine-litre cases.
"2015 saw another year of disruption in the Polish market and I am personally very disappointed that we had to issue revised profit guidance in November 2015," chief executive of Stock Spirits Group, Chris Heath, said.
"Our team in Poland have worked incredibly hard to put in place the necessary building blocks to return the business to growth and I acknowledge their hard work and commitment during this difficult period. In other markets, I am very pleased with the results we achieved in 2015 and it reassures me that our commercial strategy remains valid and robust. In all of our markets we achieved profit growth in the second half compared to the same period in 2014."
The company, whose core markets are Poland and the Czech Republic, has proposed a final dividend of €0.0455 per share. The full-year dividend represents an increase of 55 per cent compared to 2014.
Stock Spirits added that if the company is not able to announce a meaningful acquisition in the near term, the board will begin to consider other ways to return further capital to shareholders and will also look to restructure its Polish operations.