Camerons toasting the future

Jan 6 2010 by jez Davison, Evening Gazette

HARTLEPOOL-BASED Camerons says it is expecting significantly higher profits this financial year after winning bigger deals to supply some of the country’s biggest beer companies.

The brewer and pub operator said demand for higher volumes of beer from clients including Scottish & Newcastle and Molson Coors has helped it beat the slump in the leisure industry which has hit rivals hard, and allowed it to raise its forecasts of a boost in profits.

It also said it has grown its pub chain and expanded its workforce by more than 150 as it posted revenues of £52.4m for the year ending April 2009. But while its operating profit increased to £3.9m from £1.3m in 2008, its bottom-line earnings dipped to £1.6m from £5.7m, because the figures included the one-off sale of fixed assets to Coors.

A Camerons spokesman said: “Pre-tax profit in 2008 was £5.7m but there was a one-off £5.9m of profit on the sale of fixed assets.

“This year, we expect profit before tax to be significantly higher than £1.6m.

“We have retained clients and added a few here and there.”

Camerons has invested around £3.6m in equipment to update and expand the capacity at its Hartlepool brewery to cope with the increased demand from customers.

“We are bucking the trend on the contract brewing side. It is in growth mode,” the spokesman said.

The group added 11 pubs to its estate during the last financial year, bringing the total up to 75. Staff numbers during the year increased to 251 from 91 in 2008 because nine e new acquisitions were managed houses rather than tenancies.

Despite the booming contract brewing operations, the spokesman admitted that the pubs side of the business had been hit by the downturn in common with the rest of the industry.

He said: “We have experienced the same challenging times as everybody else. Our pubs are performing in line with our expectations.

“We are starting to see it bottoming out. There are one or two lights at the end of the tunnel but we continue to struggle with competition from the supermarkets.”

Camerons is now aiming to win further contract brewing business in 2010.