BrewDog IPO: Revenue, Users, Valuation & How to Invest

BrewDog is an independent craft beer company. It started in 2007, with humble beginnings in a town called Fraserburgh in northeast Scotland, UK. It didn’t take long for the beers brewed to become a hit, and BrewDog received financing to expand. This cash injection allowed BrewDog to export its beers internationally; by 2008 it was Scotland’s largest independent brewery. 

Fast forward a few years, and the great recession of 2008 meant that the banks stopped lending to companies like BrewDog. In response, BrewDog launched its ‘Equity for Punks’ crowdfunding scheme. By 2010, BrewDog began opening bars across the UK and then went on to open international bars in countries like Brazil and Japan. With every year that passed, BrewDog grew its range of beers and customer base, its beers also being stocked in supermarket giant Tesco.

BrewDog has undergone multiple rounds of crowdfunding to grow and expand, with each ‘Equity for Punks’ generating increasing levels of cash for the company to use to fuel growth. BrewDog’s last fundraising round ‘Equity for Punks Tomorrow’ recently closed, raising £30.2 million from over 70,000 investors.

Below is a breakdown of some key figures, including BrewDog’s revenue, earnings, best-selling beers, number of beers sold, and top competitors.

Source: gov.uk

Source: gov.uk

Source: brewdog.com

In total, BrewDog has brewed hundreds of beers since 2007. But, the current line-up of best-selling core beers looks like this:

• Punk IPA – 45%
• Hazy Jane – 13%
• Lost Lager – 8%
• Elvis Juice – 6%
• Punk AF – 5%
• Dead Pony Club – 3%
• Nanny State – 3%
• Others – 17%

Few craft brewers in the UK (or globally) can compete with BrewDog in terms of scale. Although BrewDog is still relatively small compared to larger commercial beer companies, it is growing rapidly.

Here are some examples of competitors, both large and small, that BrewDog is trying to beat for market share:

• Heineken
• Anheuser-Busch (AB InBev)
• Carlsberg
• Stone Brewing
• Sierra Nevada Brewing
• Diageo
• Cloudwater Brew Company
• Northern Monk
• Deschutes Brewery
• Brooklyn Brewery
• Mikkeller
• Camden Town Brewery
• Salt Beer Factory
• Ballast Point Brewing

At the moment, ownership of BrewDog is split between:

• Over 200,000 individual investors who bought shares in crowdfunding rounds.
• Institutional investors like TSG Consumer Partners and RML Capital. 
• Founders and staff members.

There’s no exact date for the BrewDog IPO, but it will likely be soon. BrewDog hasn’t been as affected by the economic climate as some other firms (for example, tech companies). However, the BrewDog co-founder and chief executive James Watt stated that the company would wait for better market conditions before going ahead with an IPO. 

Even though BrewDog’s business hasn’t been significantly affected by the current state of the stock market, it’s still likely that the brewer would raise less money through an IPO. This is simply because general investing sentiment is more pessimistic. Investors are more risk-averse, so BrewDog will wait for the right moment to announce its initial public offering.

This way, BrewDog can ensure it maximises its fundraising potential. The company has already proven it can raise plenty of money through crowdfunding, meaning it won’t be desperate to gain further funds through an IPO. It’s hard to say when the BrewDog IPO will take place, but it looks like the company has everything ready. So, once the overall investing environment improves, it’s probable that BrewDog will go through with its IPO shortly after.

It can be possible to order BrewDog shares before the IPO. This is known as a “pre-placement.” In theory, several brokers may allow you to do just that. However, the only one which has already announced it will make an effort to give access to the BrewDog IPO is Freedom24.

Among other brokers, TradeStation has not announced if and when it will become available but seems open to it since they offer access to US IPOs. Please take a look at both:

1# Freedom24

Freedom24 (a brand of NASDAQ-listed Freedom Holding Corp. broker) has already offered to its 400,000+ worldwide clients participation in 280+ IPOs, including 40,000+ trade stocks, 1,500+ ETFs, 1,000+ US Stock Options, and 147,000+ bonds on the largest exchanges in Europe, Asia, and the US.

With Freedom24, the process of participating before the IPOs is incredibly straightforward:

1. Open an account with a minimum of 2,000 USD (the minimum for an IPO request);
2. Submit a request for the available IPO stocks before their respective IPO dates;
3. Freedom24 automatically credits your account with those shares purchased by them on your behalf (“oversubscribed” IPOs may make it difficult for your orders to be filled completely);
4. Sell your stocks after the 93-day lock-up period or purchase a forward sale contract through Freedom24 to lock your gains before the 93 days period.

To invest in the BrewDog IPO, you will technically become a Freedom Finance client. Nothing to worry about here, that’s simply the name of the broker running the platform Freedom24. 

Want to know more about Freedom24? Check our Freedom24 review.

2# TradeStation

Founded in 1982, TradeStation is a US broker committed to offering you the best trading experience within their rewarded platforms and brokerage services. You can trade stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and crypto with competitive pricing models.

With TradeStation, you must follow these steps:

1. Open an account with a minimum of 500 USD;
2. Download the ClickIPO app (Available both on iOS and Android);
3. Register on ClickIPO’s trading platform and select TradeStation as your broker;
4. Link your TradeStation account in the “My Account” section of the ClickIPO app.

For US residents, you have zero commission trades (including the IPO stocks). For international investors, please consult their pricing here.

There is no guarantee that TradeStation will offer the BrewDog IPO, still, the optionality is there. We encourage you to follow the company and wait for their official announcement. After that, ask TradeStation if they will offer it.

Alternatively, instead of placing a pre-placement order for BrewDog shares before the IPO, you can wait until the public offering before attempting to buy the newly listed stock.

Interactive Brokers and eToro are two top-rated brokers where you can access BrewDog shares and buy the stock with low fees after the IPO. Take a look at both these brokerage options below:

1# Interactive Brokers

Founded in 1978, the IBKR platform lets you access over 150 market destinations in 33 countries and trade any asset you may be looking for: Stocks, Bonds, ETFs, Forex, Funds, Commodities, Options, Futures, CFDs, Cryptos Futures, and even tiny small companies (a.k.a micro caps).

If you want to buy BrewDog stock after the IPO, here’s how you can buy shares using Interactive Brokers:

1. Open a trading account with Interactive Brokers.
2. Deposit funds into your account.
3. Once it’s available, search for the BrewDog stock, there is no confirmed ticker symbol right now.
4. Place the type of order you wish to use (e.g. market, limit, stop etc.).
5. Once you’ve bought your desired number of BrewDog shares, continue to monitor performance.

If you’d like to learn more about the IBKR platform, check out our full-length Interactive Brokers review.

2# eToro

Founded in 2006 in Israel, eToro now has over 30 million customers worldwide. The platform is widely known for its social and copy trading features. It allows users to trade stocks, forex, commodities, cryptocurrencies, CFDs, and ETFs.

If you’re planning to buy BrewDog stock after the IPO, here’s how you can buy shares using eToro:

1. Open an account with eToro.
2. Head to the ‘Markets’ page, and select ‘Stocks’.
3. Search for the BrewDog stock and select ‘Trade’.
4. Next, hit ‘BUY’.
5. Choose how much you want to invest in BrewDog or the number of shares you want to buy.
6. Select your leverage (or ensure that leverage is set to X1).
7. Decide on a take-profit parameter if you want to automate a future sale of your BrewDog stock.
8. Finally, hit ‘Open Trade’.

If you’d like to learn more about eToro, check out our in-depth eToro review.

Bottom line on investing in the BrewDog IPO

Although the BrewDog IPO (initial public offering) date is yet to be announced or confirmed, the company is still likely to go public at some stage. BrewDog will present an opportunity to invest in a leading craft beer company. Some retail investors may have already bought shares in BrewDog through the various ‘Equity for Punks’ crowdfunding rounds.

If not, you’ll likely have the chance to buy shares once the BrewDog IPO takes place. BrewDog has generated some negative press in recent years, which has worked against the company’s brand image. However, BrewDog has taken steps to try and rectify these issues (which were marketing and company culture related). BrewDog has also made a number of environmental pledges, aiming to become carbon neutral and an environmentally sustainable business. 

Over the last 15 years, there’s been a big emphasis on growth at BrewDog. Regarding most of its figures, the key stats seem to be heading in the right direction. But, as BrewDog grows and aims to compete with the bigger alcohol companies and brewers, it risks becoming the type of company it set out to be the opposite of. If BrewDog becomes too large and corporate, it may lose customers who move to support smaller, independent craft breweries. 

Whatever your drinking preferences, the BrewDog IPO (initial public offering) will surely cause a splash. A company rarely comes along and looks to challenge the existing industry by doing things differently. This could be a great investment opportunity, but it will definitely be a challenge for BrewDog to continue its rapid growth and capture a larger market share of global beer sales.

Let us know in the comments below if you plan on investing in the BrewDog IPO!