Firstly, my deepest apologies that it has taken longer than I would like to give a full update on 2024, we are still a small team, and it’s taken us a little longer to get to finalise our numbers for last year as we have been up to our necks deep in transitioning from our old ERP and Accounting system to a new platform. This has been challenging but will set us up to make some great progress on efficiency as we move forward.
Business Update
For 2024 we had high goals, and we're aiming to smash our 2023 numbers, even without the £1m of trade from Beer52 that we had in 2023. Unfortunately we didn’t make the progress we wanted to, however as you will see from the numbers below we did grow our revenue a little, which considering the market conditions and not having the same £1m business from Beer52, is still a pretty decent achievement.
In short, 2024 has been pretty much the same story as the last couple of years– the market is challenging. In particular our on-trade customers have been finding trade extremely difficult. Inflation, staff costs and reduced footfall have all been consistent stories.
We have noticed that bars are less likely to take any chances on style over the last 18 months, so kegs for something like the Project Barista, or other more esoteric styles, have been hard to find homes for. Whilst we don't want this to change our philosophy, or what we do as a business, we have to be mindful of this fact.
This year has seen Lumina really grow in the on-trade, as I’m sure you will have witnessed all over the country. However on the flipside, Soundwave has suffered. The ABV and subsequently the price has meant that we have lost a little volume on this fantastic flagship of ours.
As you can see from the table below, we have recorded our first ever financial loss as a business. Clearly this is not where we want to be, and I can assure you all we are working incredibly hard to turn this around. (You will notice that the EBITDA remains healthy - though personally I prefer to think in terms of the bottom line).
We have doubled down our work to minimise costs wherever possible and have found some great gains over the last 6 months including;
- New Fuel supplier (for Steam Boiler) - Saving ~£48k annually
- Nitrogen Generator - replacing Bulk CO2 - Saving ~£60k annually
- New Cardboard Supplier - Saving ~£20k annually - (in fairness this gets us close to 2023 pricing)
2025 will see continued pressure and challenges coming this year headlined with the National Insurance raid from the government. We are expecting to have to work really hard to get our costs in line to get us to profit this year.
Just to put this in perspective - whilst NI is increased by 1.2% - the drop from £9K to £5K in how this tax is calculated adds up to a 3.5% increase in our staffing costs, before any pay rises and increases in minimum wage are factored in. Salary costs are 63% of our operating expenses, so you can already see the challenge in sales growth and cost cutting needed - just to get back to profit.
That is our plan however, and we are aiming at a turnover increase of £600k with a target of £8.2m (not including G&D or RG1) for 2025. Combined with improvements in yields and margins, we are aiming to get back to profitability this year.
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Sales | £4,690,201 | £5,375,841 | £6,399,340 | £6,733,621 | £7,555,357 | £7,588,411 |
| Cost of Sales | £2,268,996 | £3,130,876 | £3,554,908 | £3,788,984 | £4,434,064 | £4,356,668 |
| Operating Expenses | £2,303,560 | £2,047,651 | £2,582,667 | £2,842,001 | £3,014,240 | £3,255,513 |
| Interest Charges | £51,712 | £74,015 | £54,141 | £54,313 | £88,296 | £64,721 |
| Profit Before Tax | £65,933 | £123,299 | £207,623 | £48,322 | £25,402 | -£88,585 |
| Depreciation | £220,443 | £204,276 | £282,483 | £290,261 | £302,735 | £311,662 |
| EBITDA | £286,376 | £327,575 | £490,106 | £338,583 | £328,137 | £223,077 |
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Hospitality Update
We have to start with the launch of RG1. A huge amount of work went into both the fit out project and the launch, and we hope you have all had the chance to pop in and enjoy the fruits of this hard work. The launch went well, and whilst we continue to work hard on improving the offer and experience behind the scenes, we believe RG1 has been a good success and gives us a great platform to work from. I must also commend the management team of Paul, Jade and Lucy, who have been with us since day one, and are still pushing hard to provide the best hospitality experience in Reading.
The George & Dragon has had a challenging year also, however under the stewardship of Sophie the GM, we have seen some great progress and feel like we are heading in the right direction. Last year saw us spend just shy of another £100K, unfortunately much of which is not customer facing (spending money on a cesspit isn't exactly a sexy conversation).
However this work has allowed us to extend the car park, completely open up the views, and set the scene for the start of the garden revamp we have recently started. It’s made a huge difference, and will continue to get better, with the gas tanks being moved in 6 weeks time and more planting and softening of the space. The men's toilets received a much needed upgrade, along with quite a bit of redecoration in the main bar.
Overall, we’re anticipating the best ever summer for this beautiful old pub, and I’m proud that we’re playing our part in keeping its history alive.
The Tap Yard has had another solid year, and with Jon Tebbs moving into sales at Siren, Ollie has stepped into the very large boots (and voice) recently - and is looking at what we can sharpen up there. To think we’ve already hosted a 1000 capacity festival, and a 400 strong 10k run this year, is testament to the community spirit of our rather humble space.
Production Update
From a brewery perspective, we faced a fair few challenges in 2024. Our 3 year old Steam Boiler breaking was not only costly to fix, the hire costs to get us back up and running were extremely painful. On top of that, our canning line main bearing went and took us out of action for canning for over 2 weeks.
So we are not expecting those kind of costs this year - please keep your fingers crossed that the brewing Gods are on our side.
We have once again invested in our future, both to improve efficiencies, lower costs, and improve our carbon/energy consumption. This week we are hoping to commission a Nitrogen Generator. This investment allows us to get rid of our Bulk CO2 tank, and move many of our processes to Nitrogen - including head pressure, tank purging, transferring beer, all of which previously relied on CO2 which gets tankered to us.
Currently the largest percentage of the CO2 available in the UK comes from ammonia products, and as this is an energy-intensive process, the cost has fluctuated wildly (as you will know from previous updates). Moving to Nitrogen not only gives us more control, it’s greener and significantly cheaper. We will still require CO2 for carbonation, but that volume will now be lower, and we are also looking to source greener sources.
On the subject of carbonation, we also purchased an Anton Parr inline carbonator last year. The aim here was to reduce CO2 input into the beer, but also to improve the aroma of the beer and the quality of the bubbles. Up until then we have used a carbonation stone inside the tank we pack the beer from, which bubbles CO2 through the tanks and eventually the CO2 is absorbed into the beer.
This method can result in some aroma loss, along with being slower and more inefficient. Now we have 100% control, we are able to pack the beer immediately after transfer, use less CO2, and improve the aroma of our beers. Wins all round.
In an effort to lower our water consumption, because it's better for the planet, and we are about to be on the receiving end of a 30-40% increase in water costs, we have moved our can rinse to sterile air. We are also tracking all our water usage in a concerted effort to get it as low as we can.
Beer Update
From an availability perspective you may have noticed that you can now buy Soundwave 4 packs in most major Morissons and Asda stores. But you may have missed that you can also buy Lumina 4 packs in Waitrose and Majestic stores along with a host of other fabulous 440ml options.
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Look out for Playlist in Asda and Morrisons (tastes fantastic) and Juice Krush, which after 5 small batches is absolutely on point right now.
It would also be very remiss if I didn’t mention that we have Soundwave Nectaron in around 150 Sainsbury’s stores and selling very nicely.
One of my highlights for 2024 involved working with the partnership team at Disney to help promote the launch of the blockbuster Alien Romulus movie. I have been such a fan of the movies, especially Aliens, so much so that my dogs are named from characters of the film - Ripley & Bishop. (Two springer spaniels before had the best names of Hudson and Hicks).
So to work with them on extremely tight deadlines, producing our own fun trailer with the Deadlocked team, James and Charlie, and then going to the Premiere in Leicester Square where the beer was served and the Siren logo was proudly placed on the main Imax screen – made for a very special time.
We were awarded a SIBA Business Award for this project, and were nominated in a further 3 categories, including Best City Bar for RG1. Good signs that we are performing well amongst the best independent breweries in the UK.
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One of those nominations was for ‘Paris Gold’. Dan Pembroke, the Paris Gold medal winner is an avid homebrewer, and to work with him on getting his recipe for Paris Gold out to more people to help tell his story was another highlight, alongside working with some of his local accounts in Hereford. He’s an inspiring athlete and a great guy, hopefully there will be more to come from him and us in his quest for further records at the LA Olympics 2028.
Finally, your continued support on our webshop is much appreciated. We grew our online sales by ~25% in 2024, it continues to be an excellent channel for us to bring a new audience to Siren, bring cash into the business and get the very freshest beers out to you in award-winning short times. As you will know from the early-access emails, there’s always something creative going on. Right now we’re excited for our ‘Beer Toolbox’ - which should be a fun favourite in the run up to Father’s Day.
Wrap Up
Wow, this has been a long one, hasn’t it?!
So all being said, 2024 was a tough year but with a lot of growth, work in the right areas, and many things to be proud about. I do see us facing more challenges ahead, and I am sure you are well aware of the amount of breweries that have hit the wall over the last couple of years.
But I also believe that if we keep the spirit that our team continues to show, we are building a great platform for when the skies clear, opportunities open up, and solid growth is there again.
Our commitment is to keep doing everything we can to produce the best beer we possibly can, while doing our best to be as engaging, interesting and customer-focussed as possible.
I don't take anything for granted, but I feel we have built enough trust in Siren that if we keep the right mentality and creativity, our community will continue to rally around us. So we have to keep concentrating on doing what we’re good at.
As always, all I can ask is that you keep supporting us, tell all your friends, coworkers and hell, why not tell your enemies. It all helps massively.
Kind Regards,
Darron
P.S. As this update is so overdue, I thought we should release a new product to you before it hits the market next week. SIREN PILS is an incredibly crisp, refreshing lager that I think will hit the spot this summer. It went down a storm at Europe’s nerdiest Pilsner Festival, the home of the Italian Lager, and has literally been drunk dry at London Coffee Festival today. Cans available here and shipping from Monday morning.
