Irvine, CA – Evans Brewing Company, a producer of award-winning premium craft beers, today announced that the company’s common stock has begun trading on the over-the-counter market under the stock ticker symbol “ALES”.
Having its common stock traded on a U.S. public market places Evans Brewing in a unique position among producers of craft beer – the fastest growing segment of the beer market – since only a handful of craft breweries are currently publicly traded.
Evans Brewing is preparing to open its first branded restaurant, The Public House by Evans Brewing Company, in downtown Fullerton, California and is exploring opportunities to expand its brewery operations beyond its current landmark southern California microbrewery. The company’s brewery is the oldest craft brewery in Orange County and among the oldest in all of southern California.
Trading of ALES stock also represents the fulfillment of management’s promise to a group of its stockholders who been waiting over 20 years to have tradable shares.
Evans Brewing took over operation of its Irvine, California brewery after the stockholders of Bayhawk Ales, Inc., which founded the brewery in 1994, voted Evans management control of the Bayhawk Board of Directors in December 2013. Bayhawk shareholders backed Evans Brewing’s plan to reinvigorate the brewery, rebrand brewing operations under the Evans name, exchange Bayhawk stock for shares of Evans Brewing Company, and get Evans stock quoted on a U.S. stock market.
Since the takeover, the Evans Brewing team has improved brewery operations, reduced expenses, forged new distribution relationships, continued to win international beer awards. For the Bayhawk stockholders – a group of individual investors whose Bayhawk stock holdings averaged approximately 300 shares per shareholder – Evans Brewing 1) brought the company up to date in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission; 2) provided the opportunity for Bayhawk stockholders to exchange their shares for an equal number of Evans Brewing Company shares; 3) retained a market maker; and 4) completed all of the additional steps to have the company’s stock quoted and traded on the over-the-counter market.
“Trading as a public company comes at an opportune time for Evans Brewing Company, and we are particularly pleased with our “ALES” stock symbol,” said Chairman Mike Rapport. “We are currently strengthening our regional presence in 6 western states as we also prepare to open our first branded restaurant in the large southern California market.
“We are particularly happy to have reached this trading milestone for our stockholders who were formerly Bayhawk shareholders. They laid very important groundwork by providing seed capital for Bayhawk Ales over 20 years ago and helped to make our historic Orange County brewery a reality. Now they finally have a stock that has a trading market and have the ability to benefit from Evans Brewing Company’s strategy that they supported throughout this process.
“For prospective investors, Evans Brewing provides one of the very few opportunities to invest in an independent craft beer company with the potential for significant growth in a sector that continues to capture a larger share of the overall beer market.”
About Evans Brewing Company:
Evans Brewing Company develops and distributes premium craft brands including a superior line of lagers and ales that have been honored with over 20 international awards. Operating the oldest brewery in Orange County, California, Evans Brewing supplies restaurants, retailers and beer drinkers across several states. Future plans for the company include a branded restaurant/taproom – anticipated to open in the second quarter of 2016, broader product distribution, and potentially an expansion of the beer brands currently under management.
Forward-Looking Statements:
This press release may contain statements, estimates or projections that constitute “forward-looking statements” pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws. Generally, the words “believe,” “expect,” “intend,” “estimate,” “anticipate,” “project,” “will” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which generally are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from EBC’s and Bayhawk’s historical experience and their present expectations or projections. These risks include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic, business and political conditions, developmental delays or disruptions inherent with new products and technology, and risks of reduction in revenue from the elimination of existing and potential customers due to consolidation in or new laws or regulations affecting the automotive technology industries, and other risks detailed in EBC’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including the “Risk Factors” sections of our filings, and subsequent SEC filings. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. EBC expressly disclaims any obligation or intention to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.