Every business has a choice; profit from society with no give-back, or invest profits in putting the environment first and transforming lives. For Belu it is not a choice, it is simply who we are. We do this in two main ways: by investing in initiatives that benefit our planet and by giving all our net profit to WaterAid.
We’re a business, just not as usual
Belu is very much a business, not a charity, 100% of our income is from trading revenue, monies we generate from supplying our British mineral water, filtration systems, refillables, mixers and tonics to the UK hospitality and workplace sector.
We’re on a mission to financially build back (even) better
In 2019 our revenue was £5,664,724 generating £925,123 in net profit, which was passed to WaterAid. However in 2020, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, our sales declined by 60% to £2,240,640. We went from investing £2million in net profit over two years (into WASH and ending water poverty), to making an operating loss for the first time in many years. It’s been a hard pill to swallow, but, through everything, we stuck to our values of always putting people and the environment first.
Despite the losses we faced, we decided to invest £100,000 in bringing clean water, decent toilets and hygiene education to everyone, everywhere through our impact partner, WaterAid. Our commitment to the UN’s Global Goal 6 of ensuring availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all remains unwavering, particularly as the pandemic and a rapidly changing climate have made it harder than ever to access these basic human rights around the world. Recovery continued into 2021 and we made a revenue of £3,778,792, generating £45,466 in net profit. Again we decided to invest about our profits to give £146,565 to WaterAid, transforming 9,771 lives.
We are growing sustainably and with a refreshed brand promise
The first lockdown gave us a unique opportunity to reset and reassess, to look forward, imagine and create a new 10-year horizon for Belu. It became clear that we needed investment to diversify our product range and reach new customers, which we secured. In addition to diversifying our product range we have launched
Filter in Action in Hong Kong. The financial model is the same and we’re looking at other markets where there is a focus on sustainable water services.
We are also focussing on our people and planet impact that goes beyond the money we give away. To achieve the Belu purpose, our sustainable consumption and production and climate action goals also require investment to make sure we’re pushing the boundaries on packaging innovation, championing the circular economy and annually reducing our carbon footprint.
And, will continue to be honest, open and transparent about our finances
As always, we’ll be fully transparent with all the money in and out of Belu through our
impact report and
audited annual accounts..
