Vimto maker Nichols has declared a bumper £20m special dividend and hiked its interim dividend by 18 per cent, after the company recorded double digit profit growth in the first half of the year.
Adjusted operating profit for the company, which also owns Slush Puppie, grew over 14 per cent from June 2023, from £11.5m to £13.1m.
Group revenue actually declined from £85.5m to £84m, thanks to the business selling off its unprofitable out of home division, which sold post-mix soft drinks to the catering and hospitality sectors.
However, its main UK packaged revenue increased by 5.3 per cent to £45.4m, thanks to volume growth of almost five per cent.
This was due to further market share gains in squash and carbonates, the company said, thanks in part to “strong performance from Vimto Energy”, which launched last year.
The company launched its biggest ever UK promotional campaign in recent weeks, called ‘Love the Taste’, and it said it expected the Vimto brand to surge over the summer.
Nichols CEO, Andrew Milne, said that thanks to the strong results and the board’s “high level of confidence in the outlook and strength of our balance sheet”, it was issuing the bumper dividend payout.
“Whilst mindful of continued pressure on consumer spending, despite levels of inflation stabilising, our diversified business model and the enduring strength of the Vimto brand have enabled us to deliver a strong performance,” he added.
As a result, the CEO said that the company was now expecting full-year profitability to be slightly ahead of current market expectations.
However, the company’s international packaged revenue did drop by 6.9 per cent, to £20m, as Nichols’ significant growth within Africa in previous years reversed, due in part to a downturn after a strong launch in the Ivory Coast.
“Middle East revenues in the period also declined by 29.3 per cent, reflecting the timing of shipments related to Vimto’s typically strong trading period of Ramadan,” Milne noted.