Stock Spirits Group PLC - Pre-Close Trading Update

Stock Spirits Group PLC ("the Company"), a leading owner and producer of premium branded spirits and liqueurs that are principally sold in Central and Eastern Europe, today provides a pre-close trading update for the 9 month period ended 30 September 2018.  As previously communicated, this is further to adopting 30 September as the new accounting year-end date.

Overall trading since the half-year results announced in August, and therefore for the 9 months ended 30 September 2018, was in line with our expectations.

Together, the markets of Poland and the Czech Republic deliver approximately three-quarters of our revenue.  These markets continued to show growth in spirits, in both volume and value terms (source: Nielsen YTD August 2018).  

Our Polish business has continued to perform well, growing both volume and value share, despite trading conditions remaining highly competitive.  We are also pleased with the recent performance of our Czech business, which is successfully navigating the challenges it experienced in the first half of this calendar year.

Group cash flow for the period was strong, resulting in net debt at 30 September 2018 of circa €32m (31 December 2017: €53m).

We will announce our results for the 9 months ended 30 September 2018 on Wednesday 5 December 2018, when we will provide a more detailed update on trading and performance during that period, across our key markets.  At the same time, we will report pro forma and unaudited 12 months results to 30 September 2018, with comparative pro forma unaudited results for the 12 months to 30 September 2017.