Published: Thursday, 8th July, 2010 9:24am

Brewery has Scot the lot

by Bryan Copland

Comments (0) | Print | Email

DUNBAR brewer Belhaven achieved record operating profits and sales during the year 2009/10, owner Greene King has announced.

The company saw an 11.7 per cent increase in its revenue from 2008/09, reaching £151.9 million. Its operating profit rose from £30.2m in 2008/09 to £32.7m, an 8.3 per cent increase, confirmed Rooney Anand, Greene King chief executive.

Belhaven's most popular product, ale brand Best, led a "strong performance" last year, with volumes growing by 15.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, in retail, Belhaven achieved like-for-like sales growth of 5.5 per cent - led by a good performance from its pub restaurant brand, Eating Inn.

The report stated: "Belhaven's continued success in Scotland is built upon its unique focus on the Scottish market, operating a high-quality pub estate in a fragmented market, supplemented by quality acquisitions, selling the leading ale and lager brands both within the Belhaven estate and to its free trade customers, a strong and stable management team, the ongoing support and investment from Greene King and, most crucially, a retention of its Scottishness in a market in which this is highly valued."

Euan Venters, managing director of Belhaven, said the company was "very pleased" with its performance.

"Belhaven continues to grow well ahead of the market and obviously we are very pleased for Dunbar that sales of Belhaven Best continue to grow," he told the Courier.

"We are investing in the brewery and maintaining Belhaven as a Scottish-focused business based here in Dunbar. I think Belhaven Best is a very important part of the business, but the pubs also performed very strongly overall and they had some great performances in food.

"Belhaven is successful because of its Scottishness. It really does give Scottish customers what they want and that fact is shown when you do customer surveys, where we tend to come out top."

At the end of last year, Dunbar community leaders expressed concerns after 19 jobs were lost at Belhaven's Brewery Lane bottling plant and 15 administration jobs cut at its Spott Road HQ.

However, in May, Belhaven announced it was to invest a six-figure sum in the Brewery Lane site - creating improved visitor facilities and increased production - including increasing the capacity of its brewhouse with the installation of new brewing vessels. A museum is also being created.

The company estimates that the work will be completed by February next year.