AGM Statement

Mark Hunter, Chair of The Artisanal Spirits Company (AIM: ART), creator of outstanding, limited-edition whiskies and experiences around the world, and owner of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Single Cask Nation & J.G. Thomson, will provide the following trading update statement at its Annual General Meeting ("AGM") being held at 9.00am today:

The Board is pleased to confirm that the positive profit improvement momentum from H2-23 has continued into early FY24, with Q1-24 EBITDA up by over £0.5m versus the prior year. This performance is slightly ahead of expectations.

With the continued focus on delivering profit, we are actively concentrating our efforts on maintaining a high quality, committed and engaged membership which will underpin sustainable revenue and profit growth over the longer term. Group revenue was broadly flat in Q1-24, in line with expected phasing for the period, with SMWS membership also broadly stable. We continue to anticipate full year consensus revenue growth of mid-single digit percentage year on year.

Single Cask Nation ("SCN") has had a positive start to trading since being acquired by the Group in January 2024. SCN is both complementary and incremental to our existing business, in addition to being strategically well aligned with ASC's stated ambition to further grow its presence in the USA and take greater advantage of the sizable and growing American Whiskey market. SCN has delivered a very solid sales performance on inaugural releases, across both e-commerce and retail in the USA, providing good initial momentum for the business.

The positive momentum and delivery to date, and expectation of further year on year EBITDA improvement in Q2-24, gives further confidence of the path to profitability. Whilst still early in the financial year, the Group remains on track to meet Full Year consensus EBITDA of £1m.