Proof Drinks grows 104% YOY reaching £28.156m for FY 2021/22

13th July 2022

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Proof Drinks, whose portfolio includes Heaven Hill, Compass Box, Cazcabel Tequila & Lyre’s reports triple digit growth for FY 2021/22. This marks another year of exponential YOY growth following 78% for FY 2020/21.

The business has also grown significantly in terms of employees which has increased by over 30% year-on-year and doubled in the last two years. This also includes the appointment of Jeremy Hill, former owner of Hi-Spirits, as non-executive director, and John Vider as Managing Director following eight years also working at Sazerac-owned Hi Spirits, most recently as Operations Director for European Operations.

John Vider commented ‘despite the current issues the hospitality sector has, and is still facing, we are still on track to hit £50m turnover which was set out in our three-year plan ending 2025.’

 

Channel Performance

Their on-premise business has seen a ‘strong’ return offering £13m in revenue. The continued consumer trend for cocktails has seen brands such as Mr Black coffee liqueur grow in volume by 244% YOY. Non-alcoholic spirits brand Lyre’s has also performed very well gaining over 1,000 distribution points in Q1 2022 alone. The return of the on-trade has also been a big contributing factor to Cazcabel Tequila becoming their first brand to hit 100,000 cases MAT.

‘Although BWS in the e-commerce channel has suffered due to the natural shift back to the on-trade following its reopening, our e-commerce business still experiences considerable growth,’ comments John. Amazon alone grew by over 60% YOY, totalling £4.5m in value, with Cazcabel Tequila (up by 105%), CUT Rum (up by 17%), Elijah Craig (up by 67%), Aviation Gin (up by 32%) & Mr Black (up by 49%) being the main contributing brands.

Future Confidence

RTD brands Coppa Cocktails & Canvino are predicted to offer significant revenue to their retail business over the next 12 months having already secured major listings for Coppa in Asda and Canvino in Tesco.

“Our ultimate goal is to be the largest, most profitable, and most sought after independently owned creator and distributor of alcoholic and ‘No & Low’ drinks brands in the UK and we are in a very good position to achieve that” explains John.