How cherry vodka sales transformed distiller MARKET REPORT

A GROWING taste for flavoured vodka in Poland helped alcoholic drinks maker Stock

Spirits toast stellar growth.

The eastern European-focused spirit and liqueur maker saw volumes of flavoured vodka such as cherry, lemon and strawberry sold in its biggest market – accounting for more than 64pc of all vodka sales – grow 7.7pc in the first half.

Stock Spirits, which owns brands such as Stock Prestige and Zoladkowa de Luxe, said this compared to 1.4pc growth across Poland’s wider vodka market.

The popularity of flavoured spirits in Poland coupled with a pricing overhaul has restored investors’ faith in the firm since a shareholder rebellion last year and a shake-up of top brass.

This, combined with growth in the Czech Republic, cost-cutting and a £13.6m investment in the Irish whiskey market, led analysts to agree that turnaround efforts seem to be gaining traction.

The firm reported a 3.3pc yearon-year jump in total revenues over the period to £108.3m, while group profits rose 40pc to £10.6m and total sales increased 7.3pc to 5.7m nine-litre cases. Shares rose 10.3pc, or 16.25p, to 174.5p.

Worries over tensions between the US and North Korea pushed the FTSE 100 further away from record highs yesterday as investors flocked to defensive stocks such as miners. The index fell 0.59pc, or 44.67 points, to 7498.06.

Consumer giant Unilever edged up after attempting to simplify its structure with plans to buy back around £406m worth of preference shares from Dutch investors.

The company has agreed to buy most of the shares held in its Dutch-listed division from NN Investment and ASR Nederland and its shares rose by 0.4pc, or 18p, to 4429p.

Bookie Ladbrokes Coral fell into the red yesterday after three of its largest shareholders sold around 90m shares for £111m.

Investors Apollo Funds, Cerberus and Anchorage – Gala Coral’s private equity owners prior to its merger with Ladbrokes – cashed in on a leap in the firm’s fortunes after months of decline on regulatory concerns. Shares fell 5.2pc, or 6.6p, to 121.5p.

Investors who held on to troubled gold miner Acacia Mining through its dramatic decline over the last few weeks enjoyed a brief respite after the firm was upgraded by analysts at RBC.

The Tanzania-focused miner has been at loggerheads with the country’s government over its ban on the export of gold concentrate. The tension reached a peak last month when the government told Acacia to cough up £138bn for undervaluing its products.

With Acacia recently reporting progress in discussions between its majority shareholder Barrick Gold and Tanzania’s government, RBC thinks the dark clouds could be about to clear. Shares rose 7.7pc, or 13.6p, to 189.9p.

Support services and construction group Interserve reported a fall in profits and increased expected debt levels in its final set of results before new boss Debbie White joins in September.

The firm saw year-on-year firsthalf profits fall from £55.2m to £26.5m and increased its full-year guidance for net debt to £500m as challenging market conditions in the UK led to a small loss in its construction division. Shares fell 1.5pc, or 3.25p, to 220p.

Self- storage firm Lok’nStore reported a 5.5pc jump in revenues and 6.5pc growth in occupancy in the first half, after opening sites in Bedford and Dover. Shares rose 0.9pc, or 3.5p, to 381.5p.

Snoozebox, which provides accommodation at music festivals and sports events, rose 6.9pc, or 0.02p, to 0.31p after cutting losses by more than half to £1m in the first six months of the year.