Fever-Tree climbs to top of mixers league
BOOMING gin sales provided a tonic for Fever-Tree as it became the UK’s leading mixers brand and raised its annual profit forecasts.
It ended the year as the number one brand by value in the off-trade – supermarkets and off-licences – claiming a 39 per cent share of the market in the fourth quarter compared with rival Schweppes’ 31 per cent.
It marks another milestone for the company – whose flavoured tonic waters, ginger beers and lemonades are also sold to hotels, restaurants and bars – after a stellar stock market performance.
Since floating on London’s junior Aim exchange in 2014, its value has soared from £154million to £2.8billion to make it Britain’s most valuable soft drinks company, with revenue and profit forecasts regularly upgraded.
That trend continued yesterday as the company said sales for 2017 are expected to hit £169million, up 66 per cent on the previous year. This includes a near-doubling of UK revenue.
Sales in Europe increased by 42 per cent, and in the US by 39 per cent. It recently appointed a North American chief executive to run a new base there. This puts Fever-Tree on track to “comfortably” beat analysts’ revenue and profit forecasts. Data provider IRI said UK consumers spent £36million on gin in supermarkets during the week before Christmas. This was up 45 per cent on the previous year, boosting the value sales of mixers by 30 per cent. Fever-Tree CEO Tim Warrillow, pictured, who launched the brand in 2005 with Charles Rolls, hailed an “exceptional” performance in the UK, as it attracts a “new younger audience”. He said: “I am very proud of our performance in 2017, which has seen us end the year as the number one mixer brand at UK retail.
“There is clear evidence that the trends of premiumisation and mixability are accelerating and we are excited by the global opportunity this presents.”