- Revenue of € 84.0 million with a stable gross margin
- Passoã acquisition expected to be completed in early December 2020

Highlights full-year 2019/20
Revenue in 2019/20 came in at € 84.0 million, a decline of 3.5% compared to last year. At constant currencies revenue decreased 4.7%
The global brands reported a revenue decline of 2.8%, while revenue of the regional brands decreased by 5.4% compared to last year
Asia-Pacific showed revenue growth of 1.4%, mainly attributable to China. Emerging Markets was down 2% while Western Europe was down 4.5%, impacted by the difficult retail market in France. Revenue in North America was down 5.8% on high comparable numbers in the US last year when revenue grew 20%. Before COVID-19 started to impact the market, underlying market trends in the US were positive
The gross margin remained stable at 56.7%
EBIT decreased by 9.7% to € 17.7 million as a result of the lower revenue and (one-off) lower contribution from joint ventures. Investments in the brands decreased slightly compared to last year while currencies had a positive impact of € 0.5 million
Normalised net profit came in at € 11.3 million compared to € 12.8 million in 2018/19. Reported net profit was € 9.2 million
The operating free cash flow improved by 33.1% to € 15.7 million, reconfirming the company’s strong cash generation
Given the uncertainty related to the impact of COVID-19, management has decided to refrain from proposing a final dividend for the 2019/20 financial year. Total full-year dividend is therefore equal to the interim dividend of € 0.35 per share in cash that was paid out in December 2019
COVID-19 started to impact results as of Q4 2019/20. The gradual closing of the on-trade resulted in an approximately 30% decrease in depletions (in-market sales) in March, especially impacting the global brands
As over half of our business is on-trade driven, Lucas Bols will experience a severe impact on revenue as long as the on-trade remains closed or operates at reduced capacity and distributors are reducing their stocks in the market
Swift and decisive action taken to address the impact of COVID-19, including cutting costs, strict cash flow management and new agreements with the banks
The Passoã acquisition is expected to be completed in early December 2020
Huub van Doorne, CEO Lucas Bols: “It goes without saying that these are unprecedented times, the likes of which we have never seen before. The closure of the on-trade around the world had some impact in the final quarter of our 2019/20 financial year. Revenue in 2020/21 will be severely impacted as long as the on-trade remains closed. We are taking necessary measures, including overhead cost cuts, limiting A&P investments and strict cash flow management. There will be no interim dividend and no variable remuneration throughout the company for the first half of 2020/21. As previously communicated, we have furthermore agreed some temporary amendments to our financing arrangements with the banks which will allow us to navigate through this crisis.

Apart from the impact of COVID-19, 2019/20 also saw some positive developments. China continued to report strong growth in revenue and profitability while Eastern Europe and Africa also posted growth. We are pleased with the strong improvement in our operating cash flow. Our core Bols brand had a strong year with mid-single digit revenue growth, confirming its leading position in the cocktail market. We are pleased to confirm that the Passoã acquisition from Rémy Cointreau is expected to be completed in early December 2020.


Despite the current crisis situation, we are confident that we can gradually return to a more normal situation once the lockdown measures are progressively lifted on a market-by-market basis. At this very moment our priority lies with the safety of our people and our business partners and the financial health of the company.”