The beer company hoping to create a $100 million brewery and gig venue in Ballarat's west has lost $1.8 million in the last six months.
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As a result, Broo Ltd's may sell its land at the Ballarat West Employment Zone (BWEZ), according to new Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) documents.
The company made around $1.6 million in revenue in the six months before December 31 last year, which was up 28.1 per cent compared with the same 2017 period. But Broo has accumulated net losses of $15.7 million, with no money made from their Chinese brewing venture in the last six months of 2018.
This is despite a market update at the end of January stating Broo's exclusive Chinese distribution partner "continues to grow sales and distribution" of their lager products in China.
The company's land acquistion at BWEZ cost $2.16 million from Major Projects Victoria, according to ASX documents from 2017.
The brewing company stated the board is now "exploring realisation strategies for the Ballarat land", including joint ventures or sale.
The half-year report states the losses "indicate a significant or material uncertainty about the consolidated entity’s ability to continue as a going concern".
In February 2017, Broo announced plans to build an environmentally-friendly brewery on a 15-hectare site in BWEZ. Later plans included a 10,000-set event venue, zipline, museum and hospitality ventures.
The company was subjected to a temporary ASX trading halt on February 18, after the ASX asked if the Broo could explain recent trading, which included a significant increase in the volume of Broo Ltd securities traded, with 430,000 shares traded on Friday February 15 and a further 1,614,650 on Monday February 18.
In a statement to The Courier last week, City of Ballarat confirmed that no planning application for the BWEZ site is currently in existence. Broo Ltd did not respond to requests for comment when contacted on Friday.
In April 2017 Broo announced plans to open a Broo Burger Bar in the newly-constructed Delacombe Town Centre.
Those plans were due to commence in November 2017 and were subsequently dropped in November 2018, with the company saying it had 'concluded recently that its operations focusing in the Ballarat precinct are better served by expansion of the proposed development at BWEZ'.
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