Fever-tree founders ready to celebrate £73m payday
THE founders of Fever-tree are about to toast a £73m payday after unveiling plans to sell another tranche of shares in the mixer maker.
Charles Rolls, the non-executive deputy chairman, and Tim Warrillow, the chief executive, plan to sell around 1m shares each, leaving them with stakes of 8pc and 4.7pc respectively.
Fever-tree did not say at what price the pair were looking to sell the shares, but the stock closed at £36.80 yesterday and, at that price, they would land just under £37m each.
The two men have decided to exercise options over 275,820 shares each at a price of 134p per share, in order to source some of the shares being sold in the placing, meaning they will pay out around £370,000 each.
Mr Rolls and Mr Warrillow would remain the fourth and eighth largest shareholders after the sales if they stick to plans to sell just 2m shares.
During previous placings, the number of shares sold has been vastly different to the number originally intended, having almost doubled twice, due to significant demand.
This has meant the pair’s holdings in Fever-tree have notably shrunk, and since the end of 2015 to last night, prior to the most recent placing, Mr Rolls has sold just under 10m shares and Mr Warrillow 2.5m.
Mr Warrillow told The Daily Telegraph last year that he had sold down his stake, as “you have to look at these things depending on the situation”.
The new share sales come as Fevertree’s growth shows no sign of letting up. The company two weeks ago revealed its revenues had soared 45pc to £104m in the first half of 2018, driving profit 36pc higher.
Fever-tree said it was continuing to benefit from the “well-established premiumisation” trend across the wider beverage sector.
The results are just the latest in a string of upbeat updates from it, lifting shares 61pc in the year-to-date.
They have increased in price consistently since Fever-tree floated in 2014, and shares now trade more than 2,600pc higher than Fever Tree’s 134p initial public offering price.
Fever-tree was the top mixer brand in shops last year, the bulk of its sales coming from tonic water.
However, it has recently branched out to offer rum and whisky mixers.