Here's last years result for some context, the 30% decrease is kind of deceptive as the FY21 figures included Jobkeeper and a substantial accounting adjustment. So yes, EBITDA decreased, but this includes Jobkeeper which literally had no attached costs. So realistically, we're looking at a mild increase in Operating EBITDA (on a $ basis).
It's actually not a bad result. Keep in mind, the business lost out a lot of potential hospitality revenue and there were fewer drinking opportunities, with pubs and The A Shed closed for a good portion of the year. Compared to last year, the hospitality arm is actually profitable for the first time, which is a really good outcome, especially considering the venue was closed and had mask mandates for a portion of the year.
Additionally, the business has ramped up marketing hard, with operating costs only increasing marginally, to me this is actually a really good outcome, the business is actually spending less on it's operating costs as a percentage of revenue, 15.94% versus 16.86% for the Good Drinks core business. This is an incredibly good sign, the majority of increased expenditure is on marketing, not on operations, given recent supply chain issues and rising costs all round this looks really good.
Overall, I think this is a good outcome, the business has done well through covid in a year with much less government support, the business has growing meaningfully with operating costs actually decreasing, it's nothing totally incredible, but the result actually shows the business has resilience, the brand is strong and growing and even in a market where people were drinking less and unable to go out the business has grown. This is a solid outcome.
Well done to the team and I'm excited to see a much stronger FY23 with the A shed and Optus at full capacity, plus more drinking opportunities in the broader market with Gage Roads in even more taps across WA and the Eastern States.
As always DYOR I'm just reading the reports and make no representations, this is entirely my opinion.
(20min delay)