Rye River Brewing, the Kildare-based craft brewer, has reported a more than €521,000 after-tax loss for 2024 as commercial and one-off project costs ate into rising gross profits at the Celbridge-headquartered company.
The brewer moved into contract brewing this year with a deal to produce the popular Galway Hooker brand of beers.
In spite of the losses, chief executive and founder Tom Cronin described it as a strong period for the business amid a decline in the wider craft beer market and what he described as a “big year of change” for Rye River.
Speaking to The Irish Times this week, Mr Cronin said the brewery moved away from its 24-hour, seven-day production cycle last year after it commissioned and installed a new brewhouse.
RM Block
He said Rye River, which rebranded from McGargles in 2021, is now home to the fourth-largest brewhouse in Ireland and the largest among independent brewers.
“We never stopped production throughout the installation and commissioning programme, which was a feat in its own right,” he said.
“We also took occupancy of a new 16,000sq ft warehouse on site, which again was constructed without any downtime to operations in 2024.”
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New accounts filed by DP Financial, the trading company behind the brewery, reveal that turnover expanded by 7 per cent in the year to more than €9.1 million, which Mr Cronin said was driven by “strong domestic and export performance”.
He said Rye River grew its sales volumes by 17.7 per cent as the company “pivots and adapts to the industry challenges”.
After-tax losses widened from €458,536 to slightly more than €521,000 as distribution costs and administrative expenses jumped.
Administrative costs – which jumped by about 7 per cent to €1.85 million, largely due to one-off project costs associated with the new brewhouse – bit into the brewery’s €1.97 million gross profit, leaving it with an operating loss of €297,663.
Rye River’s distribution costs jumped by almost 20 per cent to more than €440,000 in 2024, which Mr Cronin said related to an increase in headcount and the impact of the increase in the minimum wage.
The company employed 66 people last year, an increase of four from 2023.
The filings also reveal that it extended its €2.75 million loan agreement with Elm Corporate Credit in December.
Elm, a credit vehicle established in 2018 to lend to Irish SMEs, is a subsidiary of Dublin-based private credit firm DunPort Capital, which controls the majority of Rye River’s shares, according to its most recent annual return.
Looking ahead, Mr Cronin said RY River has traded well in the first half of the year but “will need to adapt further” in the second half, due to the likely impact of US president Donald Trump’s tariff agenda.
He said rising non-domestic water charges will also impact costs.
Earlier this year, Rye River announced that it would take over the production of the Galway Hooker beer range from Connacht Group on a contract basis as consolidation in the craft beer industry continues apace.
