Carbonated mixers brand Fever-Tree needs to "continue to build on the momentum" that it experienced over the past year if it is going to boost investor confidence, analyst Walid Koudmani at financial brokerage XTB has said.
Koudmani was commenting as Fever-Tree reported a 23% increase in revenue in its full year 2021, to £311.1 million (€373.9 million), with its core UK business seeing a 15% increase.
"Fever-Tree report showed excellent performance in 2021 with noticeable growth across all key markets," Koudmani said.
"While these results managed to exceed expectations, it will be essential for the company to maintain this level of performance and continue to build on the momentum now that it has established itself throughout different markets."
Off-Trade Driving Sales
In its trading update, which precedes its preliminary results announcement on 16 March, Fever-Tree said that its 'encouraging performance' was driven by the off-trade, which remains 'well ahead' of 2019 levels.
In addition, its on-trade business recovered across most of its core markets in the second half of the year, despite the emergence of the Omicron variant, it added.
As well as posting double-digit growth in the UK, where the group said that its performance was 'ahead of our expectations', the US also proved a lucrative market for the brand, with revenue up 33% (+41% at constant currency levels).
In Rest of World, the group saw revenue up 6%, which was slightly behind guidance, with Australia seeing good on-trade growth, and Canada delivering incremental value in the on-trade. Fever-Tree entered three new international markets during 2021, it said.
'Impressive Growth' In Key Markets
"The group continues to deliver impressive growth in every one of our key markets," commented chief executive Tim Warrilow.
"However, I am of course mindful that short-term logistics challenges and cost pressures remain, along with On-Trade restrictions, albeit at a much lower level than this time last year. Despite this, Fever-Tree's strong growth and track record against the competition, alongside supportive global trends, gives us confidence in our ability to capitalise on the substantial global opportunity."
Earlier this week, rival mixers maker Britvic reported a 16.5% increase in sales in the first quarter of its financial year.
© 2022 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
