Welsh divestment cuts Spadel turnover

Without turnover from Wales (after the divestment of Brecon Carreg) and out-of-home (due to the Covid-19 lockdowns), Belgian water producer Spadel saw its profit and turnover decrease with double figures.

Without Wales

After a good start to the first quarter, Spadel was not able to maintain positive results throughout the Covid pandemic. As pubs, restaurants and other public places closed, out-of-home consumption collapsed almost completely. Sales in supermarkets did rise, but were unable to compensate the far larger losses elsewhere.

Spadel’s half-year turnover went down 12.9 % to 132.4 million euros – a drop that would be just under 5 % excluding the results of the Welsh Brecon Carreg brand. That was sold in November 2019, but was still in the books during the first half-year of 2019. Profit went down even more (- 24.8 % to 14.5 million euros), as the decrease in (more expensive) smaller bottles for out-of-home meant margins went down.

The Belgian company will now look to cut costs (in sales, marketing, production and other domains). As its effects will not be felt immediately, the company projects a slight drop in its operational result for the full year.