21st Jul 2016 07:58
LONDON (Alliance News) - Nichols PLC on Thursday reported growth in profit in the first half of 2016, boosted by its flagship Vimto brand and recent acquisition of The Noisy Drinks Co, and said it is confident its full-year results will be in line with expectations.
The soft drinks company said its pretax profit in the six months to June 30 grew to GBP11.9 million from GBP10.9 million the year before, as revenue rose to GBP56.5 million from GBP54.7 million.
Nichols said growth was driven by sales in the UK, which it hailed as "particularly pleasing in the context of the continued challenges in the UK soft drinks market", with Vimto Remix, the Still Ready To Drink range, and the recent acquisition of The Noisy Drinks Co all contributing to growth. UK sales rose by 4.7% to GBP44.5 million.
In the international business, sales were in line with the prior year at GBP12 million. Nichols said it expects the majority of sales to the Middle East to occur in the second half of the year due to the phasing of in-country production, while Africa has seen an "excellent" performance driven by both current markets and the opening of new territories.
Nichols will pay an interim dividend of 9.0 pence, a 13% increase on the 8.0p paid the year before.
"In our UK markets we expect performance in the second half of 2016 to continue the trend seen in the first six months of the year. In addition, we will re-launch the Feel Good brand in the autumn ahead of the important Christmas trading period into both the Still and Carbonate categories. We expect a stronger second half of the year in our Middle East markets and as a result, our total international sales are anticipated to deliver growth for the full year," Non-Executive Chairman John Nichols said in a statement.
"In summary, the board is pleased with the strong performance in the first half of 2016 and is confident that full-year results will be in line with market expectations," he added.
Shares in Nichols were trading up 0.3% at 1,449.75 pence on Thursday morning.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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