Craft beer’s big dog aims for New Zealand
Scottish brand BrewDog raising funds for its first bar in Auckland
Multinational brewery and pub chain BrewDog is seeking to raise A$750,000 ($810,000) as part of its plan to establish a physical presence in New Zealand.
The Scottish brand, which has more than 100 brew pub locations, kicked off its crowdfunding in December and has so far raised $570,000.
Within the next two years BrewDog plans to have a brew bar open in Auckland.
Ed Bott, BrewDog chief executive of Australia and New Zealand, said that by the end of the year, the company would have a local representative in the market working towards its New Zealand launch.
“It is a market we have previously serviced through distributors and now we’re super keen to bring our presence with bars and people,” Bott told the Herald.
“We’re looking at sites primarily in Auckland right now, but that’s not ruling out service sites in other locations.” Bott said he could see up to five pub locations in this country.
In Australia, BrewDog has one location, in Brisbane, which it opened in 2019, but is close to securing additional pub sites in the city and Sydney and has its sights set on 20 locations.
It also plans to build an eco-hotel in Brisbane that is dog friendly, complete with a dog park. This follows what it says is the world’s first hotel in a brewery, The DogHouse, which it operates in Columbus, Ohio.
BrewDog has 40 pubs globally that it plans to open within the next six months despite disruption from various lockdowns around the world due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The company was founded in Aberdeenshire in 2007 by friends James Watt and Martin Dickie, and has since set up breweries in Scotland, Berlin, Ohio and Brisbane. It is considered the world’s biggest craft beer bar operator and is particularly popular in Europe and Britain.
The company is 46 per cent owned by Watt and Dickie, with more than 180,000 investors.
Its latest equity crowdfunding round is live on OnMarket.com.au and open to New Zealand-based investors with up to 100,000 Class B shares available in BrewDog Group Australia Ltd for a minimum investment of $108.
Part of the company’s pledge for new investors is discounts at its pubs worldwide.
“We see great opportunity in New
Zealand,” Bott said.
“BrewDog is blown away by craft beer in New Zealand. In our opinion, it’s one of the leading countries in the world when it comes to quality, depth and range of local craft breweries, and for us that is a good sign of how healthy the craft beer scene is.
“We see ourselves as a little bit like
a big brother of craft to a certain degree because we have been doing it quite a while, and by coming there and opening locations we always offer up half of our taps in our taprooms for locals to have their beer on tap as well.”
Bott said BrewDog felt the base in New Zealand was good to support its expansion plans.
Work was already underway to appoint a local country manager, as were plans for importing its beer from the Brisbane brewery.
BrewDog would need 20-30 staff to run a single brew pub in this country, as well as two or three local sales reps, he said.
The Kiwi sharemarket is proving hard to please. Solid company results continue to flow in but the market has shrugged its shoulders and neared correction territory with its 13th drop in 16 trading days this month.
The S&P/NZX 50 Index was down 37.39 points or 0.3 per cent to 12,388.84, just short of the 10 per cent correction mark after hitting an alltime high of 13,558.19 on January 8.
There 55 gainers and 89 decliners over the whole market on heavy volume of 61.7 million share transactions worth $214.57 million.
Jeremy Sullivan, investment adviser with Hamilton Hindin Greene, said the market has neared a technical correction smack bang in the middle of the reporting season.
“It’s ironical. The reporting season has been holding up nicely and you can’t blame the companies’ performances. It doesn’t warrant a 10 per cent reduction in our index, but our market is more focused on rising interest rates,” he said.
“The increase in the bond yields in United States have flown over here and our red-hot housing market is increasingly becoming unsustainable — a clampdown on investors may result in a rise in interest rates next year. We also have the strength of the NZ dollar and overseas investors may be taking advantage of that and bringing their money back home.”
There was a wad of results. Mercury Energy and Vector both fell, despite half-year profit rises.
Vector was down 15c or 3.55 per cent to $4.07 after reporting a 26.8 per cent rise in profit of $102.13m on revenue of $647.7m, down 7.4 per cent, and it is paying an interim dividend of 8.25c on April 8. It increased its 2021 full-year operating earnings guidance to between $500m and $520m, up from $480m-$500m.
Mercury fell 23c or 3.61 per cent to $6.15 after lowering its 2021 operating earnings forecast to $520m from $535m because of the dry weather in the Taupo catchment and a drop in hydro generation. Half-year profit surged 56.6 per cent to $130m on revenue of $944m, with an interim dividend of 6.8c a share on April 1.
Summerset Group Holdings, with 32 retirement villages and nearly 6000 units in NZ and Australia, gained 22c to $12.79 after its solid result for the year ending December. Revenue was up 12 per cent to $172.42m and net profit rose 32 per cent to $230.8m, though underlying profit slipped 7.4 per cent to $98.3m because of the cost of keeping its residents safe during the pandemic.
Summerset is paying an interim dividend of 7c a share on March 22.
The NZ dollar was down a touch to US73.17c against the American greenback after rising to US73.39c the day before. Global exporter Fisher and Paykel Healthcare fell to an eight-month low of $30.57, down $1.30 or 4.08 per cent, after sitting at $30.25 on June 23 last year.
Ebos Group climbed 55c or 1.96 per cent to $28.55 after its mauling the day before; Port of Tauranga rose 19c or 2.65 per cent to $7.35; Ryman Healthcare was up 24c to $15.29;
Briscoe Group picked up 14c or 2.47 per cent to $5.80; and T&G Global increased 8c or 2.76 per cent to $2.98.
Genesis Energy was down 8c or 2.27 per cent to $3.44.
The number one problem in New Zealand is housing. Firstly, houses are too expensive and secondly, too many New Zealanders live in rented properties. Every New Zealander should have the opportunity to own and look after their own home.
Why has the situation become so intolerable? Primarily because too many homes are being purchased by investors who end up owning large numbers of residential properties. The primary objective of investors is the untaxed capital gain.
What is the solution? The first step will be to make residential properties less attractive to investors. This can be achieved by making interest payments on all residential properties non-deductible for tax purposes. Currently, homeowners are not permitted to claim interest payments as a deductible expense and the same should apply to all residential properties. We need to make New Zealand a more caring society and make housing more affordable. Action is needed now.
Murray Higgs, Parnell.
Home help
Bob van Ruyssevelt makes a compelling plea ( NZ Herald, February 22) for a massive increase in warm, dry homes from a Government that is failing in its 2017 election promises.
At the root of this failure is KiwiBuild’s elimination of all community housing competitors despite their highly successful track records.
In 2020, Megan Woods was pictured opening a housing development for which government had unashamedly withdrawn promised funding. It’s called posturing in my book.
Mary Tallon, Takapuna.
Life lessons
Congratulations to Jo Bowler for her welloverdue article ( NZ Herald, February 22) calling for the return of night classes.
I vividly remember the shock decision by a recent National Government to scrap this system, and could barely believe what I read. If ever there was a stupid, shortsighted political decision, this was it. How could any party do away with a policy that was delivering so much benefit to the people, and at such little cost?
The time is ripe for night classes to be reinstated. Ardern has won international plaudits for not only her handling of Covid-19 but also for extending the hand of kindness. She has shown empathy does matter. If her Government were to bring back night classes, it would show more than kindness: it would demonstrate sound economic sense, a wonderful investment in the future.
New Zealanders would take pride in knowing our nation encourages learning, from youngsters trying to find their way to the older generation that wishes to practice new hobbies within a warm, social environment. That’s no mean achievement.
John Hall, Hauraki.
SOS Cooks
In April last year a lot of New Zealand restaurants and cafes were in danger of collapsing during level 4 lockdown.
To try to help them survive the lockdown, a clever scheme was hatched by the Well Foundation chairman and New Zealand Trade and Enterprise projects general manager, David Downs.
People could buy vouchers or gift cards for their local cafe and restaurant through the website (SOS Business — SOS Cafe), which could be redeemed “when this is all over”.
My wife and I bought several vouchers for our favourite restaurants and both we and the restaurant owners were very happy to see them being used when we were back down to level 2 and 1.
Perhaps a similar scheme could be introduced by the Cook Islands hospitality industry? I, for one, would be more than happy to buy a holiday to Rarotonga and pay, for example, 50 per cent of the cost now, and the balance on arrival, once we Kiwis are again allowed to travel to the Cook Islands.
I can’t imagine it would be that difficult to initiate. It could be the lifeline our neighbours need to survive.
Ron Czerniak, Northcross.
All seeing
A change is coming to cause anxiety to dictators who like shutting down free speech.
Space Link will soon have enough satellites to cover our globe to beam back quality internet to every nook and cranny.
Elon Musk has pushed lots of envelopes in recent years with SpaceX, Tesla EVs and solar storage — and SpaceLink adds another global product and dimension.
This service then awaits low, subsidised pricing, or free, for all people of poorer countries such as Myanmar, Kashmir, Uganda, and even China, where closing the internet is a tool of repression and control of any political dissent.
The ability to hide atrocities and human rights violations will get even tougher when every phone can record and stream in real time from anywhere on the earth’s surface.
Rob Buchanan, Kerikeri.
Christchurch claims
As we remember the 185 people who lost their lives in the Christchurch earthquake 10 years ago ( NZ Herald, February 22), we should also remember the many survivors who lost their homes and are still fighting the insurance companies for compensation.
The situation is a win/win situation for the insurers. Their clients are 10 years older, mostly retired and don’t have the resources and years remaining to legally challenge them for the compensation they paid for.
So as we commemorate the dead, let us grudgingly also congratulate those insurance companies who figuratively bayoneted the wounded and made a financial victory of the earthquake. Perhaps a sign outside each abandoned house advertising the company’s name would add to their satisfaction.
Guy Clapshaw, Pakuranga.
MIQ facilities
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but is the idea of building a new quarantine facility at huge cost away from Auckland’s CBD past its use-by date already?
Vaccination rollout has commenced and with the source of the latest Covid outbreak in South Auckland unknown, would a new quarantine facility have prevented it?
Would a hastily constructed facility of the type proposed end up as ghetto housing when the pandemic is over?
As the rate of infection in main overseas destinations is slightly on the wane, isn’t it more sensible to continue to upgrade existing facilities to a standard fit for purpose?
Coralie van Camp, Remuera.
Undesirable
Australian woman Lucinda Baulch has refused to take Covid-19 swabs.
She has also participated in an antilockdown protest in Australia, so she clearly does not respect the law of the land — just like those the Australian Government deem to be 501s.
So send her back as a 105, thus doing in reverse this means of deporting the undesirables.
Vicky Williamson, Bucklands Beach.
Passport insurance NZ Herald,
Mindy Cheung ( February 22) is quite correct when she says the woman has more links to Australia than New Zealand.
She used her Australian passport to travel, speaks with an Australian accent, radicalised in Australia. In an interview with a journalist in Turkey says she considers herself Australian.
Why then does she have a New Zealand passport? Insurance maybe, if the hardhearted Aussies don’t want her, the softtouch Kiwis will always have her.
Peter Alley, Whanga¯rei.
Soul searching
I used to be a director of Salomon, the ski company, and New Zealand was one of the countries in my patch. It was a tiny market, but the one I enjoyed the most. I used to bring Japanese customers to Mt Hutt while the major nations’ skiers trained there, many sponsored by me.
New Zealand should be more than proud of the world they have created on their islands in the Pacific Ocean.
It is the least corrupt country in the world with a score of 88. The UK is 11th at 77. Italy is 52nd with 53. Below 50 you can bribe a policeman. In New Zealand, I would do business on a handshake.
I hope the New Zealanders win the America’s Cup. At the final press conference, the Italians should be told to go home and, when they come back, do so with better manners and be an example of how to behave to the rest of the world.
Give them a seed each. Tell them to go home and grow some New Zealand soul. It’s New Zealand’s greatest export.
Martin Chilver-Stainer, Isle of Wight (home of the America’s Cup).