BrewDog appoints chief financial officer: Scottish brewer and retailer BrewDog has appointed Jason Marshall to the newly created role of chief financial officer. Marshall brings a wealth of experience to the role having served in the Coca-Cola system for 20 years. At Coca-Cola European Partners he was a key member of the finance leadership team, leaving as vice-president finance for supply chain. Marshall was instrumental in the delivery of business plans for the 2012 London Olympics as well as supporting the recent three-way merger that created Coca-Cola European Partners, the largest independent Coke bottler in the world. At BrewDog, Marshall will be responsible for enhancing the brewery’s finance function as it prepares for a period of accelerated domestic and international growth in 2018 and beyond. This will involve the development of business partnership functions to support growth, strategic vision for the global opportunities of the business, personnel development of the expanding finance team, and co-ordinating plans for the business’ third-party suppliers. At its seventh annual general meeting last month, BrewDog made a slew of announcements including a move into cider, plans for 17 new bars around the world and increased availability of BrewDog beer in the US as new state distributors were announced. A third brewing site is currently under construction in Brisbane, Australia, to add to its brewing facilities in Columbus, Ohio, and its headquarters in Ellon, Scotland. Last year BrewDog saw sales up by 78% and overall revenue up 55% on 2016. BrewDog’s growth has been powered by its record-breaking Equity for Punks crowdfunding initiative, which has seen the company raise more than £55m since 2009. Last October, the brewery launched its fifth round of Equity for Punks, looking to raise a target £10m to further its global expansion. After reaching the initial target in fewer than 90 days, BrewDog announced in January that Equity for Punks V would remain open until 15 October 2018, or until the maximum potential raise of £50m is reached. The latest round of Equity for Punks has raised more than £15m from more than 33,000 investors. BrewDog co-founder James Watt said: “Jason’s passion, vision and tenacity is what most excites me about this addition to the BrewDog family. His experience in working in a complex and multinational business is exactly what we need at this juncture in the BrewDog journey. His proven emphasis on fostering a positive team culture aligns with our mission of being the best company to work for – ever. Jason will play a crucial role among our senior team in ensuring we never lose sight of this.” Marshall added: “You can’t help but be impressed with BrewDog’s track record over the past ten years. The rise of the craft beer scene in the UK owes a great deal to BrewDog’s bold, resourceful and idiosyncratic approach to doing business. I’ve long been impressed by the contagious passion of James and Martin and the company’s socially conscious values, especially its Unicorn Fund. I look forward to joining a world-class team and contributing to the next chapter of BrewDog and the global craft beer movement.”

 

Company Watch – ‘NLW rise puts 144 sector firms at increased risk of financial distress’: Britain’s restaurant and cafe sector could be in for more pain this year as wage costs rise, a City financial analyst has warned. Company Watch said a study of the financial accounts of 324 restaurants and cafes, with total assets of more than £5m, showed one third were already loss-making and less able to absorb cost increases. The accounts, filed between January 2016 and March this year, also showed 144 of the firms were in the Company Watch “warning area”, which meant they were about 25 times more likely to suffer financial distress. Company Watch compared the financial strength of businesses using a scale of zero to 100, a so-called H-score, with groups scoring a rating of 25 and fewer entering its warning area. It said it had modelled the possible impact of last month’s rise in the National Living Wage and found the rise could add an extra £120m to the total wages bill of the businesses and reduce profits by nearly 8%. Company Watch chief executive Jo Kettner told The Times: “It’s the mid-market restaurants and cafes that are most feeling the pinch.” Restaurants and cafes with the highest H-scores include McDonald’s, Patisserie Holdings, which owns Patisserie Valerie, and Whitbread, the owner of Costa Coffee.

 

Deliveroo to give drivers free accident insurance: Deliveroo is spending £10m to provide its 35,000 riders with free accident insurance that will give them cover worth £7,500 if they crash while making deliveries, reports The Mail.