Vimto maker Nichols sees revenue fall 6% in first quarter

Vimto owner Nichols saw revenue drop 6% in the first three months of the calendar year, despite growing its sales in the UK.

The soft drinks maker, which is also behind Slush Puppie and Sunkist, blamed the fall on a planned decline in turnover for its international packaged business, which sells Nichols’ drinks brands to supermarkets and retailers abroad.

Revenue in the division fell 23% to £9.8 million for the three months to March 31, which it said was down to “phasing of shipments”, and was anticipated by bosses, according to a trading update.

Nichols said the drop reflected the timing of shipments into the Middle East, as well as reduced sales in Africa compared to this time last year when it had a one-off spike in volumes because of launching in the Ivory Coast.

There were more positive figures for its domestic packaged business in the UK, which saw revenues grow 6.8% to £20.4 million, amid an increase in sales volume of 4.4%.

Nichols said its flagship Vimto brand continued to grow in value, reflecting “innovation” in the product and more distribution.

Vimto is produced both as a squash and as a canned soft drink and has been launched in new flavours including “Mango & Dragonfruit” and “Passionfruit & Lychee” of late.

It comes after analysts at Kantar said grocery price inflation in the UK stood at 3.2% in March, a significant drop from 4.5% the month before. Drinks were among the fastest price risers, along with chocolate and sweets.

Nichols added that overall revenues were affected by a scaling back of its out-of-home business, which supplies soft drinks to cinemas, pubs, restaurants and other venues.

Turnover from the out-of-home unit fell 6.2% to £8.6 million, as the company pulled out of “unprofitable accounts”. Bosses expect the move to ultimately help profits.

Nichols said its predictions of £28.8 million pre-tax profit for the calendar year 2024, announced at the end of last year, remain unchanged.