Chief Exec introduction

1. Chief Executive Introduction

I hope that you and your families are safe and well and fairing as well as you can in these uncertain times. This board update aims to give you the key pieces of information about what SIBA has been doing since the last Board with particular focus on what we have been doing during Covid 19.

It seems obvious to say it, but our industry is never likely to ever be the same again.

Through all the adversity what has kept me going are the positives.

Team SIBA has stepped up massively to lobby Government, to chase down debtors and call out bad practice; to communicate clearly with the brewing industry and to lead the way. I’m grateful for such a great team of people behind us –they have made it all happen.

The industry itself has also adapted swiftly and this may lead to long term change. Securing the ability for brewers to sell directly to the public in the first week of lockdown may have long lasting implications as brewers realise the margins to be made on direct small pack sales are much better than can be enjoyed elsewhere.

The Pulling Together and Beerishere initiatives are helping brewers who do small pack create some cashflow and I hope that consumer behaviour ‘sticks’ to buying direct.

But I’m not in any position to forget about the 65% of you who are mothballed. I’m hugely concerned that cask, which was in crisis before Covid, now might be on ‘life support’, if you forgive me for using the phrase.

There are immense challenges ahead and I hope that SIBA can continue to play a major part in addressing those challenges. Not every brewery and not every pub will survive and that I am certain of.

But as ever, the role of a good trade association is to give everyone at least a fighting chance.

Our top 10 key achievements over the last 6 weeks

1. Daily email briefings to all breweries in the UK –not just SIBA members 2. Convinced the Government to allow breweries to remain open for takeaways and deliveries, with specific mention of breweries within the guidance 3. Lobbied HMRC and received clarity over beer disposals including cash payments, wholesalers and crediting duty 4. Weekly call with the Small Business Minister, Head of Business at Number 10 and regular briefings with DEFRA, BEIS and Treasury 5. Calls with Secretary of State for Business on industry issues 6. Launched (with CAMRA) Pulling Together and (with Simply Hops) Beerishere.org 7. Generated significant media coverage with industry survey to raise the profile of the issues through joint open letters, press releases and interviews. Multiple radio, TV interviews and national and trade press 8. Called out and rectified bad practices within the industry including with Wetherspoons and LWC 9. Chased and received payment of majority outstanding BeerFlex invoices 10. Despite the circumstances, raised significant goodwill about SIBA across the industry.