Shares in Fever-Tree, the maker of premium tonic water and mixers, jumped by 10% on Friday, following the appointment of Unilever's Kevin Havelock as a non-executive director.
The Telegraph reports that this new appointment had led to speculation about a potential takeover by consumer goods giant Unilever, which snapped up a number of niche FMCG brands last year.
Since listing in 2014, shares of Fever-Tree are up 1,684%, according to the Financial Times.
Growing Sector
In its most recent trading update, Fever-Tree said that its business saw strong growth in the first three quarters of 2017, driven by 'exceptional performance' in the UK market, and anticipated that results for the full year would be materially ahead of market expectations.
It added that the mixer category is now the fastest-growing in the UK's soft drinks sector, with Fever-Tree responsible for 97% of value growth in retail over the last year.
Growth in this category spurred Coca-Cola to invest £6.6 million in its Schweppes brand last year, including the introduction of premium tonic water range Schweppes 1783.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Sarah Harford. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
