Craft beer giant BrewDog is to invest £25m in its Ellon headquarters as part of a global expansion.

And in an interview with The Sunday Times, the firm's co-founder and chief executive James Watt said he was still committed to a stock market float, but that the timeline had been impacted by Coronavirus.

The brewery and pub operator plans to invest £75m in expanding the business this year, more than half of which will be spent in Scotland.

Market float

A market float could see the business valued at as much as £2bn.

However, Mr Watt said the pandemic meant there was too much uncertainty, at present, to commit to a timeline.

“We’re still keen to push towards an IPO," he told the Sunday Times.

"Obviously, over the past two years we’ve had a lot of chaos with most of our hospitality businesses being closed. We’re focused on getting them back on an even keel.

“We’ve put a lot of concrete steps in place, from an independent chairman and a new financial officer, but there’s still too much uncertainty surrounding hospitality to put a firm timeline on an IPO today.”

Growth

BrewDog is forecasting growth of 30% this year, following the expansion of its online sales division during the pandemic.

Last year its sales grew to £238m, despite the impact of the CV19.

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