Drinks company Halewood Wines and Spirits has closed its US subsidiary and is downsizing its Australian business, due to the impact of the coronavirus.
Located in Miami, the operating unit facilitates the growth of its portfolio in the US, Caribbean and the Americas.
The producer of brands such as Whitley Neill gin and Liverpool Gin said that it had been “hit very hard financially by the impact of Covid-19” causing it to lose “important sales revenue from bars, restaurants and pubs across the UK and the duty-free trade, while also experiencing a sizeable downturn in export sales”.
Stewart Hainsworth, CEO of Halewood Wines & Spirits, said: “We’ve taken immediate steps to safeguard jobs and attempt to secure the long-term future of a business founded over 40 years ago. Senior management are taking significant pay cuts and operations have been adjusted to reduce working hours and overheads.
“Regrettably the Covid-19 outbreak does mean we are introducing a scheme of voluntary redundancies and the closure of some sites. This includes closure of our operations in the US and downsizing our Australian business.
“We are looking at Government measures to attempt to minimise the financial disruption caused by Covid-19 and will continue to take any steps we can to protect jobs and help steer the company through this difficult and uncertain period.”
Earlier this year, Halewood Wines and Spirits acquired a 48% share in the Polish craft spirits brand Vestal Vodka as the companies believe the UK is set for the ‘revival’ of vodka.
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