The brewing group behind beer brands Black Sheep, Purity Brewing Co and Fourpure is set to call in administrators.
Keystone Brewing Group, formed in 2024 after private investment group Breal acquired a slew of distressed breweries out of or on the verge of administration, has itself filed notice of intent to appoint administrators today (28 November).
Separately, Black Sheep Brewing Company and PBC Brewing (Purity) have also filed their own notices of intent.
Alongside owned-UK beer brands Purity Brewing, Black Sheep, Brew By Numbers, Brick Brewery, Fourpure, Magic Rock and North Brewing, Keystone also distributes Bavarian lager brand Hofmeister, French cider brand Maison Sassy, and low & no alcohol brewer Big Drop, for which it also manages production in the UK.
It employs almost 200 people in the UK and owns two production sites in Yorkshire and Warwickshire.
Keystone is run by industry veteran Steven Cox, who joined the business from brewing group In Good Company, the previous owner of the Magic Rock and Fourpure brands.
It has previously stated its intention to grow revenues to £100m via a combination of acquisitions and sales growth.
However, Breal’s lack of brewing expertise meant such lofty ambitions were always unrealistic, an industry source told The Grocer.
“They thought they could snap up a tonne of assets for next to nothing and it would somehow work,” they said. “They took on too many brands in too short a time without any proper portfolio strategy or willingness to invest behind the brands.”
A restructure or partial sale was unlikely to raise sufficient funds to solve the company’s financial problems, the source said.
“I’m not sure what they will get out of it as I doubt anyone sees proper value in the whole portfolio. They will try and sell it but not sure if that is likely to be fruitful.”
The Grocer has approached Keystone for comment.
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