Brick Brewing Reports Record EBITDA of $5.4M for Fiscal 2015

Fourth Quarter F2015 Highlights:

• Net revenue increased to $9.1 million, from $8.0 million in the prior year, with gross margin improving to 31.0% from 25.5%
• Selling, Marketing and Administration ("SM&A") expenses increased to $1.7 million from
  $1.3 million.
• EBITDA improved to $1.8 million in the quarter, vs. $1.3 million.

Full Year F2015 Highlights:  

• Net Revenues for the full year were $36.3 million, compared to $37.7 million for fiscal 2014.
• Full year gross margin improved to 28.1%, from 26.1% in fiscal 2014.
• SM&A expenses decreased to $7.6 million, down from $7.8 million the prior year.
• Fiscal 2015 EBITDA* increased 17% to $5.4 million compared to EBITDA* reported for fiscal 2014 of $4.6 million.

KITCHENER, ON, April 13, 2015 /CNW/ - Brick Brewing Co. Limited ("Brick" or the "Company") (TSX: BRB), the largest Canadian-owned and Canadian-based publicly held brewery in Ontario, today released financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended January 31, 2015. Brick posted record annual EBITDA of $5.4 million on net revenue of $36.3 million. In the fourth quarter, Brick achieved EBITDA of $1.8 million, compared to EBITDA of $1.3 million in the fourth quarter of the prior year.

Brick's president and chief executive officer George Croft said, "Overall, F2015 was a good year for Brick.  We grew EBITDA, continued to expand our gross margins, made good progress in building a stronger brand portfolio and increasing our share in craft premium.  We also continued to improve our sales execution, revenue management capabilities and increased the efficiency of our operation.  As a result, we delivered record EBITDA of $5.4 million."

Brick's premium craft beer brand, Waterloo, posted full year volume growth of 21%.  In addition to the successful launch of Waterloo Grapefruit Radler, the Company also achieved strong growth in the Waterloo core offerings – Dark, Pilsner, IPA and Amber.  Mr. Croft continued, "Waterloo performance in fiscal 2015 was exceptional, outperforming the craft category by a significant margin."  In the Seagram's brand, volume was down 13% for the year, largely due to loss of select LCBO listings.  The LCBO listing losses were mitigated by Seagram's apple cider, which grew over 25% in the year, and by Seagram's malt, sold through The Beer Store, which grew over 80%. "The category extensions we've introduced under the Seagram brand are paying dividends.  Malt-based beverages and cider are fast growing categories, and our entries there have begun to resonate with consumers.  We believe we're in the early stages of growth for cider and malt beverages, so we're looking for this strong performance to continue," said Croft.

Brick previously announced a project to expand its Kitchener facility.  The project, targeted for completion by the end of October 2015, is expected to deliver a minimum of $1 million in recurring savings.  Russell Tabata, Chief Operating Officer at Brick, noted, "This is the largest capital project in our Company's history, and it's getting our full attention.  Several months into the project, we're right on track in terms of progress and spending.  On completion, the investment will leave us with a leading edge, fully integrated facility that will allow us to significantly improve our competitive position with the large international brewers."

The following financial information should be read in conjunction with the audited annual financial statements of the Company prepared under IFRS for the year ended January 31, 2015.

STATEMENTS OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Years ended January 31, 2015 and 2014

STATEMENTS OF FINANCIAL POSITION
As at January 31, 2015 and 2014

STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS
Years ended January 31, 2015 and 2014

Additional Information

For further details the Company's complete management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and financial statements for the year ended January 31, 2015 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 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 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

 All statements in this press release that do not directly and exclusively relate to historical facts constitute forward-looking statements as of the date of this press release. 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 Corporation 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, which are not guarantees and 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 included in this press release are made only at the date of this press release and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Corporation 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, gain on disposal of property, plant, and equipment, 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

Related Links

http://www.brickbrewing.com