STCK.L Share News (STCK)

(Alliance News) - Stock Spirits Group PLC on Wednesday said it has successfully weathered the previous six months of difficult trading conditions and is "well positioned" to benefit from a post-pandemic recovery.

The owner and producer of premium branded spirits and liqueurs said pretax profit for the six months ended March 31 soared 60% year-on-year to EUR36.4 million from EUR22.8 million, helped by reduced costs.

Half-year revenue fell marginally to EUR183.4 million, 3.3% lower than EUR189.6 million a year prior.

Stock Spirits declared an interim dividend of 2.98 euro cents, up 7.6% from 2.77 cents last year.

Chief Executive Mirek Stachowicz commented: "This has been another resilient financial and operational performance against a hugely challenging backdrop.

"We managed to largely counterbalance the widespread closure of the on-trade in all of our markets by growing our strong brands in the off-trade. This was driven both by successful product innovations and by the trend for consumers to turn to familiar and trusted brands during times of uncertainty."

Looking at the next six months of trading, Stock Spirits said it was "broadly on track" with plans, although it warned continuing disruption from the pandemic and the impact of the Polish small format tax could harm its performance.

"Whilst there remains some uncertainty in the short-term outlook, we remain confident in the future prospects for Stock Spirits, as illustrated both by the investments that we are making in our brands and infrastructure, and by the continuation of our progressive dividend policy," said Stachowicz.

Shares in Stock Spirits were down 1.5% to 268.50 pence in London on Wednesday morning.

By Will Paige; willpaige@alliancenews.com

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