Fevertree Drinks was breaking out the bubbly of a different kind yesterday as it announced that it had overtaken Schweppes as the biggest-selling retail brand of mixers.
As the posh tonic maker made it a “perfect dozen” by delivering its 12th consecutive profits upgrade since its stock market flotation in 2014, it also quoted figures from IRI, the data provider, for the 13 weeks to the end of December, in which its off-trade, or retail, market share reached 39 per cent, compared with 31 per cent for Schweppes.
Fevertree was launched in 2005 by Charles Rolls, a former managing director of Plymouth Gin, and Tim Warrillow, an advertising and branding executive, to make high-quality tonic to cater for the premium gin market. Today, it sells a range of mixers, including Sicilian lemonade, ginger ale and Madagascan vanilla cola, in more than 60 countries.
Mr Warrillow said that the lead over Schweppes, which is owned by Coca-Cola in the UK, had accelerated in the past four weeks, with Fevertree on 43 per cent and Schweppes on 30 per cent.
However, a spokeswoman for Schweppes said that these numbers referred to value, not volume. “Schweppes is still No 1 in off-trade in volume and No 1 in on-trade. More people are drinking Schweppes in pubs and bars than any other tonic.”
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Only two years ago Fevertree’s off-trade share had been about 10 per cent, with its rival claiming more than 50 per cent. Mr Warrillow said that the performance was all the more pleasing given Coca-Cola’s heavy investment in promoting its core tonic and Schweppes 1783, a premium tonic launched to take on Fevertree.
“By their own admission, they’ve thrown the kitchen sink at it, but these statistics show clearly who consumers are supporting,” he said. He estimated that, since its launch, rivals had created 85 “me-too” brands but that these had claimed only a combined 3 per cent market share.
In a full-year trading update, Fevertree said that it expected its 2017 results to be “comfortably ahead of market expectations”; revenues grew by 66 per cent to £169 million after an increase of 58 per cent in the second half.
It said that the performance in the UK in the second half had been “exceptionally strong”and that it would use its strong balance sheet — it has net cash of £51 million — to back its growth ambitions.
Its shares fizzed 10.3 per cent higher to £26.85 in early trading, up from £12.03 a year ago, valuing the company at £3.1 billion. However, the shares closed 38p, or 1.6 per cent, lower at £23.97 as investors took profits.