I am now officially a BrewDog shareholder:
I own a massive total of 4 shares (the minimum allowable purchase) and thus own a very small part of the company (based on the share capital in this run about 1/22,500 although that doesn’t take into account the smaller Equity For Punks 1). The share issue will be used to expand the brewery into an Eco driven brewery site which looks, quite frankly, bloody huge. With potential to increase capacity from 28,000 HectolItres to 500,000. I do hope they’re not biting off more than they can chew. I’m sure they’ve got a good accountant, they are Scottish after all.
Given the size of my investment, clearly I don’t expect significant financial gain and I imagine that’s how most of the other shareholders feel. I did something similar when running my pretend record label (in theory, obviously it was a fraction of the size) and, it seems, if you give enough free stuff away, people really buy into it. I get 10% off from the shop, 5% off at the bars, an invite to the annual AGM, which looks like a load of fun, and all the other usual shareholder privileges.
To my mind, it’s another inspired marketing venture from the BrewDog chaps. Raise some cash, make some friends, get more people to buy beer and get some nice articles in the press. It’s no wonder James and Martin have just been placed in the latest Forbes 30 under 30 list.
