New York-based Brockmans Gin Ltd. named Guy Lawrence as its chief executive officer (CEO). Lawrence joined the company one year ago as managing director and is replacing co-founder Neil Everitt, who remains on the Board and is the company’s largest shareholder.
The company also announced that Brockmans Gin secured nearly $5.6 million of new investment in 2020.
In a statement, Everitt said, “The appointment of Guy as CEO and this significant investment by our existing shareholders are both indicative of our confidence in the significant future potential of the company.”
Despite a challenging 2020 for the industry, Brockmans Gin continues to develop its brand footprint globally and now sells in 54 countries, with a particularly strong position in the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Canada. Additionally, the brand is growing rapidly in the United States and France.
“There remains a huge opportunity globally for the super-premium gin category, evidenced by multiple data sources including: IWSR research; market extrapolation; industry investment trends; and customer preference and purchasing patterns,” Lawrence said. “We estimate that the overall super-premium gin category will double globally in the next five years. Importantly, Brockmans Gin is in great shape. We have weathered the difficult past year successfully and are well positioned to capture a good share of this upside. In the past 10 years, we have invested over $30 million in marketing to support our growth and we plan to continue this investment”
Not only has Brockmans boosted sales in the U.K., it has developed new distribution in key markets in the United States and Canada. In the United States, the gin is distributed by Blue Ridge, with nationwide availability across 22 states. In Canada, in key provinces including Quebec, the brand is now one of the best performing gins in the category in terms of both volume and growth rates, the company says. The growth highlights the opportunity in the Americas for the super-premium gin category in general and the Brockmans brand in particular.
In Europe, Brockmans Gins is experiencing strong growth in Switzerland, France and Luxembourg, while building on its well-established positions in the U.K., Spain and Germany, it says.
Lawrence added: “We look forward to seeing a recovery in the hospitality sector on a worldwide basis as governments begin to control the Covid-19 virus. It has been ― and remains ― a challenging time for everyone but the brilliant initiatives and ingenuity around the world mean, I believe, that the future is bright. Those consumers who are keen and able to go out to venues once again want and deserve a treat. Super-premium brands such as Brockmans help fulfil that need. We are doing all that we can to support the recovery and we thank our customers in both the on-premise and off-premise categories for continuing to support the brand and for their belief in our very distinctive, multi-award-winning gin”.
Brockmans is available in the United States in 750-ml bottles at a suggested price of $34.99.
