Quote:The company said profits rose because of higher prices, and increased volumes of higher margin premium brands and beverages it produces under co-packing agreements...
Brick said volumes of its premium Waterloo brands increased 21 per cent in the year ended Jan. 31 compared to a year earlier. The Waterloo brands accounted for 5.5 per cent of its beer volume during the year.
Volumes of its Laker brand, which accounted for 88 per cent of beer volumes in fiscal 2015, fell 11.7 per cent.
So what they're saying is they make more money brewing "premium" brands for others "under co-packing agreements" than they do brewing cheap Laker brands. Why then did they kill most of their own premium beers over the past few years? Surely if the public is willing to pay extra for premium beer then Brick could make even higher profit margins by selling under their own labels.
Or is this just another indication of how tightly the big three brewers have the industry under their control, such that people buy "premium" beer pushed by the power of big three marketing oblivious that it wasn't really brewed by them?