FEVER-TREE FULL OF FIZZ AS IT TARGETS US MARKET

MORE gin was sold last summer than in the summers of 2014 and 2015 combined – boosting business at upmarket tonic maker Fever-Tree.

The company posted a 40pc jump in sales to £237.4m last year and profits surged 36pc to £61.8m.

Christmas crackers and advent calendars sold at John Lewis and Waitrose proved ‘incredibly popular’ and the World Cup and Royal Wedding also helped. But profits were hit by the new sugar tax and higher costs associated with glass which is used to bottle drinks. It is now pushing expansion in the US as it expects growth in the UK to peter out this year.

Sophie Lund-Yates, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘The marketplace for these kinds of mixers is crowded, so it will be harder to replicate the stratospheric increase in demand we saw in the UK.’ ÷ Irn-Bru maker AG Barr shrugged off the sugar tax as it reported a 5.6pc rise in sales to £279m in the year to January 26. Profits edged down by 0.9pc to £44.5m.