Brick Brewing Momentum and Performance Continues Resulting in Record EBITDA

KITCHENER, ON, April 25, 2013 /CNW/ - Brick Brewing Co. Limited ("Brick Brewing" or the "Company"), the largest Canadian owned and Canadian based publicly held brewery in Ontario, today released its financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended January 31, 2013. The Company achieved a record annual EBITDA of $4.49 million on revenue of $35.8 million. This strong financial performance is the product of a stable base business on the Laker family of value beers bolstered by the double-digit growth of Waterloo Brewing Co. and Seagram.  Success securing co-packaging agreements with other beverage alcohol manufacturers continued to leverage our available operating resources and improved the profitability of the overall business.

"We work hard at running a great company." said Russell Tabata, Chief Operating Officer. "Brick Brewing is the only regional brewer in Canada to be certified under the Global Food Safety Initiative, the highest standard of food safety in the world. We recently invested in a state-of-the-art canning line that will only improve productivity and quality further still. Last year we introduced a craft brewing division, Waterloo Brewing Co., and a family of refreshing, spring water coolers and pure apple cider under the Seagram brand. Our brewing team introduced an impressive wave of new products to the Ontario market in an incredibly short period of time."

"A stable Laker business, three new co-packaging agreements, Waterloo Brewing Co. volume up 30% on the year and Seagram up 14% demonstrate that the strategic choices we've made are working" offered George Croft, President and CEO. "Waterloo Brewing Co. and Seagram are high growth, high profit businesses that hold tremendous promise for our road ahead and are the focus of our growth efforts. What makes these financial and market achievements all the more significant is that they have been achieved despite difficult industry conditions. Brick Brewing continues to deliver outstanding results" added Croft."

Financial highlights are as follows:

• Net revenues for the fourth quarter and year end of fiscal 2013 were $8.1 million and $35.8 million respectively compared to $7.3 million and $34.1 million respectively in the fourth quarter and year end of fiscal 2012.
• Gross profit percentage for fiscal 2013 increased from 23.4% to 25.4%.
• EBITDA* for the fourth quarter and year ended January 31, 2013 was $0.9 million and $4.9M respectively, before bonus compensation of $0.4 million.  EBITDA* for the fourth quarter and year ended January 31, 2012 was $0.6 million and $3.9M respectively.  There was no bonus compensation in the year ended January 31, 2012.

The following financial statements should be read in conjunction with the audited annual financial statements of the Company prepared under IFRS.

STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Years ended January 31, 2013 and 2012

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As at January 31, 2013, and 2012

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS
Years ended January 31, 2013 and 2012

Additional Information

For further details the Company's complete management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and financial statements for the year ended January 31, 2013 will be available on the investor section of the Brick Brewing website at www.brickbeer.com. This and additional information relating to the Company, including its Annual Information Form, is or will be available on the Company's website and on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Brick Brewing

Brick is Ontario's largest Canadian-owned and Canadian-based publicly held brewery. The Company is a regional brewer of award-winning premium quality and value beers and is officially certified under British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standards for Food Safety, one of the highest and most internationally recognized standards for safe food production. Founded in 1984, Brick Brewing Co. was the first craft brewery to start up in Ontario, and is credited with pioneering the present day craft brewing renaissance in Canada. Brick has complemented its Waterloo brand premium craft beers with other popular brands such as Laker, Red Baron, Red Cap and Formosa Springs Draft.  In March 2011, Brick purchased the Canadian rights to the Seagram Coolers and now produces, sells, markets and distributes Seagram Coolers across Canada.  Brick trades on the TSX under the symbol BRB. Visit us at www.brickbeer.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the discussion in this press release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of the Company's plans, objectives, strategies, expectations and intentions and include, for example, the statements concerning expected volumes, operating efficiencies and costs.  Forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may", "will", "expect", "intend", "anticipate", "seek", "plan", "believe" or "continue" or the negatives of these terms or variations of them or similar terminology.  Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these forward-looking statements.  These forward-looking statements are not guarantees and reflect the Company's views as of April 24, 2013 with respect to future events.  Future events are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which may cause actual performance and financial results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements, including the statements regarding expected volumes, operating efficiencies and costs are based on, among other things, the following material factors and assumptions: sales volumes in the fiscal year ending January 31, 2014 ("fiscal 2014") will increase; no material changes in consumer preferences; brewing, blending, and packaging efficiencies will improve; the cost of input materials for brewing and blending will increase; the cost of packaging materials will decrease; competitive activity from other manufacturers will continue; no material change to the regulatory environment in which the Company operates and no material supply, cost or quality control issues with vendors.   Readers are urged to consider the foregoing factors and assumptions when reading the forward-looking statements and, for more information regarding the risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause the Company's actual financial results to differ from the forward-looking statements, to also refer to the remainder of the discussion in this press release, the Company's annual information form and various other public filings as and when released by the Company.  The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of April 24, 2013 and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not undertake to publicly update such forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or otherwise.

* EBITDA is a non-IFRS earnings measure, therefore it does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards  and may not be similar to measures presented by other companies. EBITDA represents earnings before interest, income taxes, depreciation and amortization, and share-based payments. Management uses this measurement to evaluate the operating results of the Company. This measure is also important to management since it is used by the Company's lenders to evaluate the ongoing cash generating capability of the Company and therefore the amounts those lenders are willing to lend to the Company. Investors find EBITDA to be useful information because it provides a measure of the Company's operating performance.

SOURCE: Brick Brewing Co. Limited