Father of two who’s made £70m from fancy G&Ts
Shares in trendy Fever-Tree tonic have rocketed by 900%
HE built his reputation in the gin industry, transforming the profits of an ailing drink brand.
But Charles Rolls then turned his attention to mixers – and has earned himself more than £70million in the process.
Yesterday Mr Rolls made the fortune from selling up shares in his drinks company Fever-Tree tonic.
He has seen shares in the firm soar by 900 per cent in just three years, with the business now worth almost £2billion. Last year alone the company sold £100million worth of tonic.
Mr Rolls’s bumper sell-off was nearly twice as much as he had originally
‘Quinine from the Congo’
intended, which he said was due to the huge number of investors who wanted to buy a slice of the fast-growing company. It is a far cry from the businessman’s first job – at McDonald’s as a teenager – and he is now worth an estimated £209million.
Mr Rolls was a gin expert who turned around the fortunes of ailing brand Plymouth Gin, before selling it to Absolut Vodka in 2001.
He met Tim Warrillow in 2004 – at the time a 28-year-old advertising executive – who wanted to set up his own gin distillery.
But Mr Rolls, a father-of-two, convinced him to set up a premium tonic water brand instead.
The 59-year-old had been left disappointed after discovering many tonics were filled with artificial sweeteners and cheap aromatics. As a result Mr Rolls and Mr Warrillow founded Fever-Tree in 2005, deciding that drinkers of posh gin deserved to have a posh tonic to go with it.
Until then Schweppes had kept a monopoly on the market, with slim-line the only alternative to Indian tonic water.
The duo spent 18 months finding a recipe they were happy with, and in an effort to find the perfect ingredients flew to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to source pharmaceutical grade quinine.
Speaking about it afterwards, Mr Rolls said: ‘The purest quinine – the main ingredient, and the essential bitterness in tonic water – is to be found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.’
Mr Rolls and his business partner had initially planned to supply upmarket bars in London, but within weeks of launching Waitrose had been in touch and it began to appear on supermarket shelves.
They started to tap into the growing number of professionals with spare cash who wanted to splash out on upmarket mixers.
The duo have since created a range of premium mixers, which include elderflower tonic water and Sicilian lemonade, which have become hugely popular with gin fans and are sold at bars and supermarkets across the UK.
Mr Rolls has not said what he plans to do with the windfall, but earlier this year he announced he would be taking a step back from Fever-Tree – perhaps to spend more time with his family – by turning his deputy chairman position into a non-executive role.
He has kept an 11.2 per cent share of the company.
He lives in a water-front mansion in Chichester with wife Jans. The property boasts a swimming pool and tennis court. Tonic was once unfashionable but it has started appearing in trendy bars across London, and in Spain it has developed an almost cult status. It’s popularity has been helped by the revival of gin – with distilleries popping up across the country claiming to infuse the spirits with an array aromatic botanicals.
Such is the new popularity of the alcoholic drink, that even Radio 4’s Archers has introduced it into its storylines with Tony Fairbrother starting an illicit distillery on a pig farm.
TELEVISION weatherman Fred Talbot is facing jail after being convicted of sex offences against young boys during camping trips in Scotland almost 40 years ago.
Talbot, 67, indecently assaulted seven youngsters on school trips while working as a teacher between 1978 and 1981.
The former This Morning star had denied the offences, forcing his victims to give evidence at Lanark Sheriff Court during a two-week trial.
But a jury found him guilty of seven charges and he is facing jail when he is sentenced next month. Edinburgh-born Talbot showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out.
Sheriff Nikola Stewart called for a criminal justice social work report and a risk assessment before she sentences Talbot.
It can now be revealed Talbot is already serving a five-year sentence for sex attacks on two boys while he was a teacher. He was jailed in 2015 for the indecent assaults on two pupils from Altrincham Grammar School, Cheshire.
Talbot’s trial in Scotland heard he targeted pupils on school trips to Moffat, Dumfriesshire, and the Caledonian Canal in Inverness.
He urged boys to drink alcohol before attempting to molest them. Stone Roses singer Ian Brown told the trial how Talbot targeted his friend during a camping trip.
The musician said: ‘The boy left the tent and I saw him again ten or 15 minutes later. I will always remember him diving back into the tent and landing on top of us.’
Mr Brown, 54, told the court the youngster alleged Talbot had tried to commit a sex act on him. The rocker also said he had ‘waited 40 years to speak to a policeman’ about the allegations.
One victim told the trial he was 15 when he went on a school excursion with the biology teacher. The man, who is now aged 53, said he punched Talbot after being woken up by an attempt to sexually assault him.
The weatherman was jailed after a three-week trial in Manchester two years ago. Police said the crimes, which happened on school trips in 1975 and 1976, ‘destroyed’ his victims’ childhood.
The investigation was triggered in December 2012, following publicity into a separate historical abuse inquiry at another school. This led to information being passed to prosecutors in Scotland.
Yesterday, the jury unanimously found Talbot guilty of two of the charges. The remaining five were by majority. Two charges were found not proven – one of indecent assault and one of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices.
Talbot became well known as the weatherman on ITV’s This Morning where he presented reports from a large floating map in Albert Dock, Liverpool.
Yesterday, Detective Inspector Bryan Lee, senior investigating officer for Police Scotland, said: ‘Fred Talbot is a sexual predator who hid behind a mask of respectability.
‘He used his position as a teacher to engineer situations which allowed him to isolate and target his victims. He took advantage of his position of trust to abuse young men in his care.
‘Thanks to the bravery of his victims, their courage in speaking to us and their commitment and support throughout this investigation, and to close working with Greater Manchester Police, we have been able to secure this conviction today.’
A spokesman for child welfare charity the NSPCC said: ‘Talbot may have thought that he had got away with the vile assaults he inflicted on children in his care but, thanks to the bravery of his victims, he has finally been brought to justice.
‘Abuse ruins childhoods and its effects last into adulthood. We hope Talbot’s conviction for these crimes will help his victims overcome what happened to them.’
‘Took advantage of a position of trust’