Investment bears fruit for cider maker
Aston Manor Cider has pushed ahead with its growth strategy as its five-year plan to “consolidate and broaden” its operations bears fruit.
The company, which last month was bought by Florette owner Agrial, reported a rise in turnover for the year to the end of December 2017 of £127m, up from £113m the year before. The company said it is continuing to explore new export markets and new product formats such as Mini Keg.
EBITDA for the year amounted to £10.7m including £4.3m profit on the sale of its head office and distribution centre at Witton, resulting in a “significant reduction” in debt for the group. Taking out the effect of the property sale, its operational profitability was down by 20%.
The independent cider-maker has spent more than £30m in the last five years in developing the business – and its successes saw it win the Innovation Award at TheBusinessDesk.com’s West Midlands Business Masters in June 2017.
The company said that 2017 saw the third full fruit processing season at the Stourport site.
It said: “We pressed a similar amount of fruit as for the prior year but with greater process efficiency, and achieving more consistent conversion than ever so we are extremely pleased with the results.
“This represents further progress for the group and for its apple growers as the orchards that we hold under contract move closer to full maturity and full production.”
In the period, the group said it won two “very significant” private label cider contracts, which increased its volume output by around 9% year on year.
Aston Manor also paid tribute to its executive chairman Peter Ellis, who passed away in December following a 12-month illness.
“We greatly miss him and take this opportunity to pay tribute to him, for his vision, his grit and determination to build such a siperb business, and for putting in the hard miles for many years. Although not having such an active role in the most recent years, he was instrumental in assembling the current team, which has delivered further success and will continue to do so for many years to come.”
