Soft drinks group Nichols plc has reported a 14% increase in revenue to £164.9 million (€186.2 million) in its full financial year, with its second half performance up 10% year-on-year.
The company added that it expects adjusted profit before tax to be in line with market expectations.
Nichols plc expects FY 2023 to be a challenging year as cost-of-living pressures will impact consumer demand across all channels.
The group added that while it is not immune to the inflationary pressures impacting the wider consumer and soft drinks markets, it will seek to mitigate these pressures through cost efficiency and revenue management.
Annual Highlights
The Vimto brand saw its value increasing by 3.4% in the UK in this period, according to data from Nielsen dated 3 December 2022, which aligns with the performance of the group in the UK.
In the international market, the Vimto brand reported 15% year-on-year growth in revenue, with second half performance up 48% year-on-year.
The group's out-of-home (OOH) channel continued to recover from the impact of the pandemic, reporting revenue growth of 43% year-on-year.
In the second half, growth slowed to 5%, reflecting a more normalised trading environment in the comparative period last year, as well as the cost-of-living pressures.
The outcome of the group's OOH Strategic Review will be announced with the preliminary results in March 2023, the company added.
Non-Executive Chair
Elsewhere, the soft drinks group has appointed Elizabeth McMeikan as its next non-executive chair, succeeding John Nichols.
In April of last year, Nichols stated that he would retire as non-executive chairman once a replacement had been identified and appointed.
McMeikan will join the group as a non-executive director on 1 February before assuming the role of non-executive chair on 26 April.
She has extensive experience in consumer-focused public and private companies in non-executive board roles in addition to an executive career with Colgate Palmolive and Tesco.
© 2023 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest A-Brands news. Article by Dayeeta Das. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
