Brazil’s Wow Nutrition Indústria e Comércio, owner of the Sufresh juice and Feel Good tea brands, has filed a request for judicial recovery, reports O Globo.
With debts totalling approximately 480 million reais, 89 million of which are debts with the São Paulo government, Wow Nutrition has reportedly had its invoices blocked by the State Treasury Secretariat since the beginning of June. This means that it can continue producing but is blocked from selling its products.
Financial Difficulties
The company says that after experiencing accelerated growth through 2014, and making large investments to meet growing demand, it faced difficulties due to a deepening economic crisis. It also cites a survey by Nielsen Consulting, which reveals that in 2016 there was a 27% drop in sales of fruit nectars, one of the company's major business segments.
With an annual turnover of around 400 million reais, the company also mentions the increase in costs caused by the rise in the dollar and the loss of fruit crops as factors that negatively affected its cash generation capacity.
Wow Nutrition says it resorted to recovery to 'protect the continuity of activities', adding that the object of its restructuring plan was to pay its debts with suppliers.
In addition to Sufresh and FeelGood, the company owns the sweetener brands Assugrim and Doce Menor, and iced coffee drink Caferazzi. In the juice sector, Wow Nutrition is in third place in Brazil, behind Coca Cola and Britvic.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
