Westons Cider has reported its best year to date with growth driven by its premium draught brands as well as launching its mulled cider into the off-trade.
For the 12 months to 31 March 2015 turnover was up by 6% to £58.6m and pre-tax profits grew by more than 30% to £2m, despite investment of £1.7m to its manufacturing site.
It has increased distribution across all trade channels to reach a market share of 5%.
Westons’ profit margin rose to 3.7%, compared with 2.9% in 2013-14.
Geoff Bradman, head of sales at Westons Cider, said: “Naturally, we are really pleased that our strategy of additional investment into both the site and our brands continues to pay dividends for us, especially given the increasingly competitive market.
“While the cider market is currently flat, the traditional premium sector of the market in which we operate is in strong growth, currently growing by 7% year-on-year. As category leaders of this sub-sector of the market with Westons brands accounting for 46% of the sector in the off-trade, we anticipate this growth to continue over the next year as consumers increasingly look for premium products with genuine heritage and authenticity.
“Our investment into our range has delivered excellent performance across all key brands, with Henry Westons Vintage the leading premium brand in the off-trade, growing by 18% year-on-year. Stowford Press has consolidated its position as the number three draught cider in the on-trade and is growing by 10% year-on-year in the off-trade. Old Rosie, the UK’s favourite premium cloudy cider, is growing by over 50% in the off-trade and Wyld Wood is the clear number one organic cider in the UK (total on and off-trade).
“All of our brands have been repackaged in the last 12-18 months, which has undoubtedly helped increase sales, and we have also extended our brands with new products as well as new channel listings. For example, we launched our Henry Westons Mulled Cider into the off-trade in the autumn and had a strong first year of sales for the product as it really captured the imagination of consumers.
“The rise and rise of premiumisation in the cider market is set to continue, hence the launch of our Mortimers Orchard, the most super-premium cider available, into the on-trade, and Caple Rd, the UK’s first craft cider in a can. Mortimer’s Orchard, which is made from 100% fresh English apple juice, has grown in volume by 134% over the past year and is now worth over £1.2m to Westons.
“We will continue to invest heavily to help maintain this growth, with a total of £6m behind the portfolio for the current year to support our brands across the market, and in excess of £4.5m into the site to include additional storage tanks and to increase our pressing and fruit handling capacity. We have a number of innovative premium product launches planned for 2016, which will help to add breadth to the premium end of the market.”
“We will continue to develop our consumer understanding and insight capability, growing our trade relationships and partnerships, ensuring our NPD is value-adding and not just ‘me-toos’ of what is already out there, and ensuring the quality of the liquids remains at a consistently high level. In addition to all of this, we will also continue to strive to be a business that’s easy to do business with.”
