Key figures for 2024
· Overall sales reached 18 million 9L cases, 4.2% less than in the previous year.
· Sales of in-house brands fell by 4% to 14.2 million 9L cases, driven by decline in low-margin products in the economy segment and regional brands.
· Throughout the year, brands in the premium and above segments delivered double-digit growth rates, which had a positive impact on the financial performance.
· Beluga achieved exceptional growth in volume terms and continues to be the undisputed leader in the super-premium category.
· Tête de Cheval and Golubitskoe Estate's wines have shown significant double-digit growth and are leaders in their segments.
· Imported brands fell by 4.8% to 3.8 million 9L cases from 4 million 9L cases a year earlier.
· By the end of the year, the company continues to be the number one supplier in terms of sales in all channels, including federal key accounts.
· WineLab: The number of outlets increased by 384 over the year to more than 2,000, with sales up 27.5%.
Highlights of the year
· In 2024, Novabev Group demonstrated a stable result in a highly competitive market in the face of constantly changing external factors.
· In Russia, the fastest growing brands are Beluga (+9%), Orthodox (+30%), Belaya Sova (+36%), Arkhangelskaya (+6.5%) vodkas, Devil's Island rum (+17.5%) and Tête de Cheval (+73%) and Golubitskoe Estate (+40%) wines.
· In August, the Belenkaya brand was restyled. By December, the brand's vodka was available in all chains in 0.5-litre, 0.25-litre and 0.1-litre bottles in a new design.
· The absolute leader in the low premium segment, Arkhangelskaya vodka, continues to grow. In December, the brand's pop-up bar opened in Usachevsky market.
· Fox & Dogs and Green Baboon have supported over 30 popular Moscow summer festivals, attracting a total of 70,000 people.
· Sales of Tête de Cheval increased by 73%. In the top100wines ranking, the Tête de Cheval Brut Reserve from the 2018 vintage was awarded Best Sparkling Classic Wine 2024.
· Golubitskoe Estate still wines also showed significant growth: +40% compared to last year's result.
· 2024 was a challenging year for imports, partly due to increased customs duties on imported products from 'unfriendly' countries. At the same time, the company maintained the high levels of the previous year and saw growth in a number of brands: the main driver in spirits was Torres Brandy +13% and in wines Cono Sur +47%.
· Novabev Group became the exclusive distributor in Russia of the Frontera and Casillero del Diablo brands of Concha y Toro, the world's largest producer of Chilean wines, on 1 July.
· The exclusive distribution agreement for Noy cognacs was renewed for a period of five years.
· Efforts have been made to improve the efficiency of operations and production units, as well as customer service and health and safety.
· The group is 25 years old and during this time Novabev Group has become the largest producer, supplier and importer of alcohol in the country.
WineLab results
· The development of WineLab continued in 2024. The number of stores for the period reached 2,041, the scale increased by 23% over the year, the expansion took place in almost all regions of the chain’s presence.
· Compared to the prior year, sales volume grew +27.5%, traffic +11.2% and average ticket +14.6%. Excluding organic growth, like-for-like sales were up 11%.
· E-commerce is expanding: online sales through the click & collect system increased by 39% and the number of online orders grew by 41%. E-commerce accounted for 11% of chain’s total sales.
· WineLab's own showcases appeared on all the country's major marketplaces: Yandex.Market, Wildberries, Ozon, Megamarket and Cooper. In December, WineLab launched a project with Wildberries, Russia's largest online store, to sell alcoholic beverages using the click & collect system.
· At the end of 2024, the chain won 'Best Loyalty Management Project in Retail' in the Global CIO 'Project of the Year' competition, the 'Wallet Award' in the Food category, the 'T-Bank Award' in the 'Comprehensive Cooperation' category, 'Breakthrough of the Year' in 'Big Turnover 2024', 'Growth Leader' in Datainsight's Ecommerce TOP100, 'Leader in the Alcohol Category' in OMNI's retail rating. For the third year in a row, the company was also ranked in the top 3 chains with the best loyalty programme in the INFOLine rating.
· The omnichannel loyalty system WINCLUB continued to develop, with the number of members exceeding 8.46 million customers.
In 2024, the company focused on efficiency, increasing labour productivity and further automation of operations, opening new stores, developing the assortment and improving processes. In 2025, Novabev Group will continue to work within the framework of its strategy, which means launching new products and ensuring high quality of existing positions, expanding WineLab, strengthening partnerships with chains and foreign alcohol producers and, of course, focusing even more on the development of the team, which after 25 years since its foundation, has 14,000 employees.