Brewery Saku has reported a net profit of EUR 8.1 million for 2021, up by 19% YoY and the strongest result in recent years, driven both by the domestic retail market and by significant export growth.
Saku’s sales revenue was EUR 69.35 million in 2021, up by 6.7%.
Board member Jaan Harms said: “In terms of both sales and profit, 2021 was the strongest year for Saku Brewery in the last seven years, and we were the leaders in the domestic beverage market in both the beer and cider segments.”
“The Estonian domestic beer market grew by almost 6% in retail trade, which was contributed to by the warm and long summer seen over the year as well as the continued fall in purchases from over the Latvian border,” Harms went on, referring to cuts in excise duties on beer in Estonia, which had discouraged cross-border shopping.
Export turnover rose by 5%, while the volume of beverages sold for export rose by 13% and the turnover of Saku Brewery’s own brands rose 2.5-fold in 2021, Harms said.
Challenges in 2021 included the Covid pandemic and the ensuing restrictions, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine starting on February 24 would prove a challenge for this year.
Saku employed slightly fewer than 300 people in 2021, while the company said its labor costs increased by approximately 7% compared with 2020’s figure and amounted to EUR 10 million. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
