Arctic Blue Beverages AB: Year-End Report, JAN-DEC 2023

THE PERIOD JANUARY – DECEMBER 2023

• Revenues (Jan - Dec): SEK 6,680 thousand (SEK 10,892 thousand on corresponding period 2022 which was positively affected by one-time other operating income of SEK 1,452 thousand)
• EBITDA: SEK –14,972 thousand (SEK –35,904 thousand)
• EBIT: SEK –17,255 thousand (SEK –37,767 thousand)
• Net result: SEK –18,360 thousand (SEK –37,767 thousand)
• Earnings per share (EPS) -0.68 SEK / share
• Cash and cash equivalents: SEK 367 thousand (31 December 2023)

OCTOBER - DECEMBER 2023

• Revenues (Oct - Dec): SEK 1,239 thousand (SEK 2,717 thousand on corresponding period 2022)
• EBITDA: SEK –3,093 thousand (SEK –6,929 thousand)
• EBIT: SEK –3,664 thousand (SEK –8,845 thousand)
• Net result: SEK –3,859 thousand (SEK –7,472 thousand)
• Earnings per share (EPS) -0.14 SEK / share

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS DURING OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2023

• Company entered into loan agreements amounting to a total of EUR 250,000
• Company’s subsidiary Arctic Blue Beverages Oy informed signing of a collaboration agreement with Noho Partners Oyj regarding a showroom distillery and tightened collaboration on the Finnish market.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER PERIOD

• Company entered into loan agreements amounting to a total of EUR 200,000

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

FIGHTING AGAINST THE DECLINING MARKET

“I will give the fourth quarter the same headline as for the third, as it has been very much similar period, fighting against a declining market. We have progressed well with our HoReCa strategy in Finland, gaining new important chain listings and flagship bars, restaurants, and nightclubs around the entire country. One example of these truly unique arctic experiences is Lapland Hotels’ SnowVillage ice hotel located in Kittilä, Finland, where you will find the Arctic Blue Ice Bar, a bar made entirely of ice.
We witnessed a positive sales development during the end of the year 2023 in Alko, where our sales reached an all year monthly high in December. Alko, the Finnish retailing beverage monopoly, constitutes a significant part of the company’s sales. It has also been proven that in the long run the HoReCa success will grow the brand awareness and have a positive impact also in the Alko sales. Therefore, we are optimistic that we will be able to fight against the declining market and improve our sales in Alko during 2024.
Things are also moving forward in our most important export market, Japan, where market activations are ongoing by our distributor ID Shoji. In our other export markets, we have tightened our focus regarding market activations. In the new markets we have updated our pricing models to better meet the requirements of our customers.
Internationally, Arctic Blue Beverages was awarded the prominent title Craft Gin Brand of the Year, in the Food and Drink Awards 2023, hosted by the esteemed British lifestyle magazine LUXlife. Our products also collected more international awards in the prestigious Gin Masters 2023 competition organised by The Spirit Business. Arctic Blue Gin received a Master Medal in the contemporary category and a Gold Medal in the super premium category. The Master Medal is the highest medal awarded in the said competition. Additionally our Arctic Blue Gin Navy Strength was awarded a Gold Medal in the Navy Strength category, Arctic Blue Gin Rose was honoured with a Gold Medal in the flavoured gin category, and our newest product, Arctic Blue Laku, launched in spring 2023, secured a Silver Medal in the gin liqueur category.

During the fourth quarter of 2023, our sales revenue decreased by 57% compared to the corresponding period last year. This was caused by declining sales trend in the premium segment in all our markets. Also, quarterly variation in sales and to a lower level of fulfilment of stock-in orders to South-East Asia, which occurred in the fourth quarter of 2022, had an impact to this decline.
Due to challenging economic times consumers are switching to cheaper products and this can be seen in our main sales channel in Finland, Alko alcohol monopoly, where the gin category sales in was down by 5,8% and premium gin category by 26,5%.
The fourth quarter 2023 sales remained at the same level compared to the previous quarter, decreasing only by 0,5%.

2023 was a challenging year for us regarding our sales performance, but at the same time we have gained good wins building our HoReCa chain strategy and partnerships in Finland. Instead of trying to gain quick wins we have focused to the long-term success of the company by enhancing current partnerships and signing new ones. We have also succeeded in cost-cutting and cost optimization measures during 2023 and continue to change to a more cost- efficient operational model during the year 2024.
During the year 2024 we will launch interesting new products and open our new Arctic Blue Distillery in Helsinki with NoHo Partners Plc. All these new opportunities combined with our current tightened focus in all the operations, and our multi award winning product portfolio, will give us a very good position to gain market share and grow even in a declining market environment”, says Valtteri Eroma, CEO of Arctic Blue Beverages