Liquor maker Lucas Bols, known for example for Passoã and Galliano, is hit hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Profit and turnover fell sharply in the first half of the broken financial year. Similarly, in recent months, following the easing of lockdown measures worldwide, there has been a strong recovery. This was also due to various initiatives to get people at home to drink cocktails and save costs.
Lucas Bols closed the six months until September with a turnover of just 26.8 million euros. This meant a fall of around 42 percent on an annual basis. The profit fell to 1.9 million euros, compared with 8.5 million euros after the first half of the previous financial year.
In particular, the hotel and catering closures are in the way of the maker of gin and liqueurs. More than half the revenue comes from the hotel and catering industry. In order to overcome the crisis, the company has made efforts to reduce costs. For example, EUR 4.3 million was saved on overheads and on marketing expenses. This meant a fall of 32 percent on an annual basis.
On the other hand, some strategic and commercial initiatives were speeded up. For example, there was the re-launch of the Bols liqueur range, making all recipes with natural herbal flavour ingredients.
In the United States and the United Kingdom, Lucas Bols played on the trend to drink cocktails at home. This was also a commercial effort. Lucas Bols is also gaining popularity through online sales, partly due to the growing popularity of home delivery of cocktails.
Lucas Bols remains cautious about the second half of the financial year as there are still many uncertainties about the coronavirus. The sharpening of the measures will logically be felt by the drinker.