Liquor maker for increase in prices after tax hike

Britain’s oldest liquor maker has said that he will increase the prices of beer in response to the increasing taxes and the cost of wages in April.

The Shepherd Name, which is located in Kent, Kent, and mainly run 290 pubs in the Southeast, stated that the two policies announced by the government last year would cost about £ 2.6MA years.

Jonathan Name, Chief Executive of Shepherd Name said: “We plan to reduce the majority of these costs in the next 18 months, through price hike and cost capacity.”

Treasury has been approached for comment.

Chancellor Rachel Raves increased the National Insurance Contribution (NICS) in the October budget, while the minimum wage also increased.

The growth is designed to help in improving funds in public services.

Some companies have criticized the policy to make it more expensive to provide employment to people, with hospitality groups that appoint many people on low wages that are specifically determined to be a hard hit.

Mr. Name, whose company employs about 1,600 people, described the current market as “challenging”.

He said, “The additional costs on our territory are the most unwanted, but the business model is flexible and we can be compatible with new circumstances,” he said.

“We have an excellent pub estate and our beer business is developing to meet the current consumer taste and trends.”

The Shepherd Name is more than 300 years old and has its oldest company in the UK.

It decoctions beer under several brands including a spitfire, bishop finger and whitestable bay.

The company said that the total beer volume fell 12.6% in the second half of 2024 compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the revenue fell slightly to £ 85m, between “an increase in sales of pubs and a decrease in sales from premium bottled Els”.

However, the underlying profit increased by about 10% to £ 4.2m after the fall in inflation last year.

Mr. Nem said that the company enjoyed the “boom” summer, but during autumn “the confidence evaporating in the run-up for the budget”.

“Since then, the activity arose again and we enjoyed a record Christmas trading with a good increase in 2023, with many individual pub records,” he said.

He said that the increase in labor costs had reduced “trade and consumer trust in short -term”, but that is “hopefully the economy would return to a development trajectory, with the increase in net disposable income and a decline in interest rates”.

Additional reporting by PA Media.