Nichols profits jump as sales fizz

24th Mar 2010 12:35

Nichols, the soft drinks maker behind Vimto, raised a glass to an 'exceptional' year as it posted a sharp rise in revenues and profits in 2009.Pre-tax profits climbed by 22% to £12.2m from £10m the previous year, as turnover jumped by 29% to £72.4m from £56.2m.Nichols said it invested heavily in marketing during the year, including in its 'seriously mixed up fruit' multimedia campaign.Sales in the soft drinks operation, which includes Vimto, Panda and other brands, rose to £55.1m from £43.5m. Vimto sales jumped 28%, said Nichols, which does not give a breakdown of actual sales of different drinks. The dispense operation, which supplies bars with syrup used to make draught soft drinks, saw sales climb to £17.3m from £12.7m.Nichols earlier this year acquired the dispense operations of Ben Shaws, the fizzy drinks group behind classics such as cream soda and dandelion & burdoch. It said the acquisition would consolidate its number three position in the sector behind Coca-Cola and Pepsi distributor Britvic.'Not only did we produce outstanding financial results across all of our operations, we also continued to out-perform our competitors and increased market share', chairman John Nichols said.'Although the general economic outlook remains uncertain and the consumer market is still highly competitive, we are confident of delivering further growth this year.'