REG - Fevertree Drinks PLC - Trading Update

Fevertree DrinksAnnouncement

19/05/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 0187M  Fevertree Drinks PLC  19 May 2022

Fever-Tree Drinks plc

TRADING UPDATE

May 19, 2022

Fever-Tree, the world's leading supplier of premium carbonated mixers,
announces a trading update ahead of its Annual General Meeting ("AGM"), which
is being held today at 11.30am BST.

Fever-Tree has made a solid start to the year, trading in-line with
expectations set out in March.

On-Trade

In the UK, our most mature market, On-Trade sales at the start of the year
were impacted by Omicron, but we have continued to see momentum build month to
month. In the US and across key European and RoW markets, our On-Trade sales
have been strong and are already well above pre-pandemic levels. As we look
ahead to the summer months our brand strength, growing presence, and the close
relationships we have built with our partners puts us in a strong position to
take advantage of the consumer appetite to return to social occasions out of
home.

Off-Trade

In the UK Off-Trade, in the first few months of the year the category has
continued to rebalance as the On-Trade re-emerges whilst also lapping last
year's lockdowns.  We remain well placed as we move into the summer months
and have strong plans in place with retailers, most notably around the
Platinum Jubilee celebrations in early June.  Elsewhere, Fever-Tree continues
to perform well in the Off-Trade. In the US consumer demand remains very
strong and Fever-Tree's sales continue to show impressive growth with an
increase of over 150% since pre-pandemic levels in 2019 1 . In Europe, the
brand's strong sales and value share gains across our key markets remain
encouraging, and in Australia and Canada our position as the clear premium
mixer category leader is enabling us to capitalise on and drive the trends in
long mixed drinks.

Investing in products and infrastructure

We continue to innovate and broaden our portfolio of drinks across regions. In
the first few months of the year, we have launched a Limited-Edition
Passionfruit & Lime Tonic in the UK, which has received strong initial
Off-Trade interest ahead of the summer, as well as launching our Sparkling
Pink Grapefruit Soda in the On-Trade in the UK and Europe after its continued
stand-out success in the US. We continue to be excited by our innovation
pipeline and look forward to a number of new product launches over the next 18
months.

Alongside our investment in innovation, we remain focused on scaling
production in the US with our local bottling partner. The West Coast bottling
line is operational whilst the East Coast line is gradually ramping up during
the first half of this year, and once fully operational, will add further
capacity and flexibility to our network. This will not only enable us to
execute on the substantial opportunity in the US, but also progressively
reduce our exposure to elevated shipping costs and delays, as well as reduce
the carbon emissions associated with our supply chain.

FY22 outlook

We continue to operate against an industry-wide backdrop of logistics
disruption, most notably in relation to the shipping of product to the US, and
inflationary cost pressures. Whilst uncertainty remains in the near term, we
are working with our supply chain partners on a large number of initiatives,
including the ramping up of US East Coast production, which will help to
mitigate these cost pressures as we progress further through this year and
more so as we progress into 2023.

Against this backdrop our team remains focused on supplying our customers and
maintaining our strong top line growth. We are not only confident in the
long-term prospects for the brand, but also of delivering another good
performance this year and are trading in line with the Board's expectations
for the full year to 31 December 2022, as set out in March: Revenue range of
c.£355m - £365m and an EBITDA range of c.£63 - £66m.

For more information please contact:

Investor queries

Ann Hyams, Director of Investor Relations I ann.hyams@fever-tree.com
(mailto:ann.hyams@fever-tree.com) I +44 (0)7435 828 138

Media queries

Oliver Winters, Director of Communications I oliver.winters@fever-tree.com
(mailto:oliver.winters@fever-tree.com) I +44 (0)770 332 9024

 

Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker - Numis Securities

Stuart Dickson I Matt Lewis I Hugo Rubinstein I +44 (0)20 7260 1000

Joint Broker - Investec Bank plc

David Flin I Alex Wright I +44 (0)20 7597 5970

Financial PR advisers - Finsbury

Faeth Birch +44 (0)7768 943 171; Anjali Unnikrishnan +44 (0) 7826 534 233;
Carolina Neri +44 (0)7502 127 516

 1  Nielsen 12 weeks to 26 March 2022 vs 12 weeks to 23 March 2019

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