Pyynikin Brewing Company's turnover has doubled in four years. The short-term goal is to become one of the five largest breweries in Finland.

A recent listing of Europe's fastest growing companies comes with malt-like surprises: Pyynikin Brewing Company, a brewery in Tampere, is growing faster than any other Finnish company.

In addition, there are no other breweries among Europe's thousands of growth companies.

The listing is run by the prestigious British financial magazine Financial Times, which, together with research firm Statistics, annually lists one of Europe's fastest growing companies on the FT 1000 list.

Three companies from Finland are included in the latest FT 1000 report. The actual listing of Pyynikki Brewery is 622 and the first of the Finnish companies.

This year's FT 1000 is ranked fourth. Pyynikin Brewing Company is listed in the "Food and Beverage" category, which includes 30 companies from across Europe. Among them, Pyynikin Brewing Company is ranked 18th.

Although the company in Tampere has been telling the public about strong growth and continued investment over the last two or three years, the investment at the top of Europe's growing breweries was a big surprise. In the EU alone, it is estimated that there are more than 10,000 brewing companies in operation. Hundreds of new breweries are created every year across Europe.

- It was a huge surprise to us that there are no other breweries in Europe among the 1000 growth companies. We are really proud of the recognition, says Tuomas Pere, founder and co-owner of Pyynikin Brewing Company.

The FT 1000 is based on revenue growth in 2015-2018. Turnover must have increased over a four-year period from at least EUR 100 000 to EUR 1.5 million. The company must be privately owned.

The brewery's turnover has grown more than fivefold in four years.

- Our net sales in 2015 were EUR 699,000 and 2018 was already EUR 2,589,000. Last year we reached EUR 3,560,000. Our growth is stable, and we plan to achieve a zero income this year, Pere says.

Pyynikin Brewing Company launched the "Own Home" project last fall, which aims to transform a brewery and equipment in Tampere from rented premises to own properties. The new brewery will be bigger than the present one. The company is currently in negotiations with the City of Tampere regarding the location of the brewery.

Part of the project will be funded by an ongoing share issue that will end in May. The issue has so far raised approximately half a million euros. The brewery has over 5,000 minority shareholders worldwide.

The project aims to achieve a production volume of 10 million liters and a turnover of approximately EUR 15 million over a period of 3 to 5 years. Upon completion of the project, Pyynikin Brewing Company will be among the five largest breweries in Finland.

- We started our larger export business a year ago. Our beers are already available in 12 different countries in Europe.