Mark Hunter, Chair of The Artisanal Spirits Company (AIM: ART), the owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (“SMWS”), the leading curator and provider of premium, single cask Scotch malt whisky and other spirits for sale primarily online to a discerning global membership, will provide the following statement in respect of the first four months of the year to 30 April 2023 at its Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) being held at 9.00am today:

Continued membership growth and revenue momentum

The Board is pleased to confirm a positive start to the year as we see another period of revenue and membership growth, with global membership now over 38,000.

Revenue performance has returned to growth in Q2, following a broadly flat start to the year, with the trajectory expected to continue for the remainder of the half year. Membership has increased +10% year on year as at the end of April 2023, benefitting in particular from a notably strong performance in Europe.

Continued progress against strategic objectives

In addition to our supply chain facility Masterton Bond now being operational, a key strategic objective for the Group is international growth, we have made significant progress at the start of this year with further developments in Asia:

• Continued signs of recovery in China, following the Covid impacted slow start to the year
• Successful launch of the new Franchise in South Korea, achieving 300 new members on initial launch in April 2023
• Established a new Taiwan subsidiary which is due to launch as planned in Q3 of this year, replacing the existing franchise arrangement
• New franchise agreement in Malaysia, as previously reported, and a further new franchise agreement with La Maison du Whisky in Singapore

Confident in delivering full year growth expectations

With a strong start to Q2, and our forecast delivery of double digit growth versus Q2 2022, we remain on course to deliver revenue and EBITDA market consensus expectations for the full year.

David Ridley (Ex MD and Andrew Dane (Current MD former FD),  outline not only the key highlights from half year results to 30 June 2022 and provide an overview of the business.