- Sales for three months to 1 July down 2.1% to US$603.3m
- Strong growth for Twisted Tea; “continuing challenges” for hard seltzer
- Company set to increase spend on Truly and Twisted Tea to year end
Twisted Tea again came to the rescue of The Boston Beer Co in the second quarter, limiting the company’s revenue decline to 2.1% amid “continuing challenges in the hard seltzer category”.
The performance in the three months to 1 July, which was an improvement on the revenue decline recorded in the first quarter, meant that sales in the first half as a whole fell 3.2% to US$1.01bn.
Depletions in the second quarter fell by -7% on an underlying basis, as declines were recorded for Truly Hard Seltzer, Angry Orchard, Hard Mountain Dew and Samuel Adams, partially offset by gains for Twisted Tea and Dogfish Head.
“As we expected, our second quarter performance reflected strong growth in Twisted Tea, offset by continuing challenges in the hard seltzer category, and we are reiterating our 2023 depletion and shipment expectations, as well as our earnings guidance,” said Boston Beer Co president and CEO Dave Burwick.
“Based on our second quarter financial performance, we plan to increase our balance of year spend behind both the Truly and Twisted Tea brands as we believe our messaging is effective and the business will respond over the short and longer term to these investments.”
In February this year, the company announced a revamp for Truly, including fresh packaging and the rebranding of Truly Vodka Seltzer as Truly Vodka Soda.
Earlier this week, Boston Beer named former Constellation Brands and Beam Suntory executive Diego Reynoso as the company’s new CFO, with effect from 5 September this year.
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