Nichols buoyed by taste for Vimto

NORTH West drinks maker Nichols has enjoyed a strong start to the year with a sharp increase in Vimto sales.

The Newton-le-Willows firm holds its annual general meeting today where chairman John Nichols will tell shareholders that sales are ahead of expectations.

Sales of Vimto, the group’s core brand, grew by 11.8% in the 12 weeks to April 12 compared with market-wide soft drinks growth of 0.6%.

There was also a good performance internationally and the company expects first half sales to benefit from the earlier timing of the Muslim festival Ramadan this year. 

Mr Nichols will tell shareholders: “Trading in the new financial year has started ahead of last year and ahead of our own internal expectations.

“At this early stage we are pleased with the group’s continued progress and we are confident of delivering both sales and earnings growth in line with expectations for the full year.”
 
Nichols has two operations, its soft drinks division which has the Vimto, Panda and Sunkist brands and its dispense arm which sells the Cabana, Beacon, Cariel and Dayla brands on draught at pubs and clubs.

The dispense Operation, which includes the recently acquired Dayla business, also started the year well and is trading ahead of internal expectations, said the group.