Vimto-maker Nichols toasts 100th Ramadan with Middle East sales boost

06 March 2024 , 14:46

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Shares in Vimto-maker NIchols rose on wednesday (Image: No credit)

Nichols, the company that makes Vimto, has seen a 10.3% rise in sales in the Middle East as it celebrated its 100th Ramadan last year.

The company's sales in the region outpaced the global revenue growth of 3.5%, reaching £170.7 million. Its pre-tax profit also increased by 75.3% to £24.3 million. This was the 100th year that the soft drinks company has marked Ramadan since it was introduced to India a century ago.

Since then, Vimto has become a popular drink during the holy month in the Middle East. Last year, the company's revenue in the Middle East was £13 million, up from £11.8 million the previous year. However, this is still much lower than the UK, where the company made £83.9 million last year. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Nichols, which also makes Slush Puppie, changed its business structure.

It now runs a packaged business and an out-of-home division, focusing more on the former. The packaged business managed to grow its revenue by 6.1% last year, with a 13% rise in the UK. However, revenue in the out-of-home business dropped by 3.4% after the company left some of its unprofitable accounts behind.

Chief executive Andrew Milne commented: "2023 was a year of strong progress and execution for Nichols, as the packaged business delivered another year of growth underpinned by the Vimto brand, and benefits from the newly streamlined OOH (out-of-home) business were delivered earlier than anticipated."

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"The group delivered a very strong performance in international markets, driven by strong market penetration across existing and new territories in Africa and the Middle East. Innovation remained a critical growth driver and we have an exciting pipeline of new products planned for 2024."

Shares went up by 4.5% on Wednesday morning.

Lawrence Matheson