TIDMFEVR
RNS Number : 7608Z
Fevertree Drinks PLC
27 January 2022
Fever-Tree Drinks plc
FY21 Trading update
Fever-Tree, the world's leading supplier of premium carbonated
mixers, announces a trading update for the year ending 31(st)
December 2021, ahead of reporting its Preliminary Results on 16(th)
March 2022.
Financial highlights
Revenue, GBPm FY21 FY20 Change
------------------------ ------ ------ -------
UK 118.3 103.3 15%
US 77.9 58.5 33%
Europe (Fever-Tree
brand revenue) 78.8 59.0 34%
Europe total revenue* 88.2 65.3 35%
ROW 26.7 25.0 6%
Total 311.1 252.1 23%
------------------------ ------ ------ -------
*includes GDP portfolio brand revenue
Fever-Tree delivered an excellent top line performance in 2021
with strong growth across all our key markets. We expect to deliver
full year revenues of c.GBP311 million revenue, an increase of 23%
year-on-year (26% at constant currency) and ahead of the guidance
provided at our Interim Results in September.
This encouraging performance has been driven by continued
strength in the Off-Trade channel, which remains well ahead of 2019
levels, as well as the return of the On-Trade during the second
half of the year in most of our markets, and was achieved despite
the emergence of new COVID variants towards the end of the
year.
A highlight of the year, and a clear indication of the brand's
continued international success, is that we became the number one
Ginger Beer brand at retail in the US, as well as finishing the
year as the number one Tonic brand at retail in the US, overtaking
Schweppes for the first time in the four weeks to 1(st) January
2022[1].
UK
UK revenue grew by 15% during 2021, ahead of our expectations.
This reflects the robust On-Trade recovery along with the continued
strength of the brand in the Off-Trade, which is benefitting from
the Group's persistent investment in marketing and new product
innovation during the pandemic.
Our On-Trade sales increased by c.59%, highlighting the strong
performance during the second half of the year as consumers sought
out the brand as they returned to the On-Trade. Sales were growing
back towards 2019 levels by November before the emergence of the
Omicron variant which impacted the recovery in the final weeks of
the year.
Fever-Tree remained the clear brand of choice in the On-Trade,
extending our value share of the mixer category to 50.5%[2], an
increase of 2.4% year-on-year. This not only reflects the close
relationships we maintained with our customers throughout the
pandemic, but also the investments we have made to keep the brand
visible as the On-Trade re-opened, most notably across staycation
hotspots, as well as at popular sporting events such as Royal
Ascot, and at our large pop-up bar in Covent Garden, London.
Our Off-Trade performance remained very strong in 2021 with
sales comparable to 2020 and c.20% ahead of 2019. Consequently,
Fever-Tree finished the year as the clear market leader in the
Off-Trade with a value share of 39.8%[3]. We believe that Off-Trade
sales will remain ahead of pre-pandemic levels, underpinned by the
increasing popularity of long mixed drinks and the well-established
premiumisation trends, and we continue to work closely with our
retail and spirits partners to capitalise on this opportunity.
US
Fever-Tree is building significant momentum in the US,
delivering c.GBP77.9 million revenue in 2021, a 33% increase
year-on-year (41% at constant currency). This result is
particularly encouraging given the strong comparators from 2020 and
is testament to the way our team has continued to grow the brand,
build relationships with new and existing accounts, launch new
products, and accelerate our On-Trade sales as restrictions eased
during the year.
The pandemic has led to a growing and sustained interest in
making long mixed drinks at home which, along with the continued
shift to more premium drinks, has put Fever-Tree in an excellent
position to continue to grow at pace. We intend to continue to take
full advantage of this opportunity through material marketing and
sales investment, focused innovation, and by strengthening our
operations.
Our Off-Trade sales accelerated beyond the levels we saw in 2020
as Fever-Tree attracted more consumers to the brand, gained more
visibility on shelf and increased our rate-of-sale, driving
category growth. This was reflected in our overall Nielsen
performance, with full year 2021 sales +24% vs 2020 and 97% ahead
of 2019(1) .
In addition, we are delighted to announce that in December 2021
we began work with our local production partner to commission our
East Coast bottling line; our second production site in the US. We
will be gradually ramping up production during the first half of
2022, with local bottling in the US providing increasing mitigation
against elevated logistics costs, contributing to a less carbon
intensive supply chain, and significantly reducing lead times,
providing greater agility to respond to the growing demand in the
US market.
Europe
Fever-Tree's performance in Europe was significantly ahead of
our expectations, with total revenue increasing by 35% year-on-year
to c.GBP88.2 million (40% at constant currency). This was driven by
continued Off-Trade progress, the positive opening of the On-Trade
from the end of the second quarter.
Our On-Trade sales re-bounded quickly with a particularly
encouraging end to the summer as many European markets were focused
on capturing as much of the tourist season as possible. Despite the
reintroduction of restrictions towards the end of the year in
certain markets, we are confident that vaccine programmes mean the
region is much better placed than this time last year.
Alongside our success in the On-Trade as it re-opened during the
year, the Off-Trade continued to perform well, with strong sales
and value share gains across all our key European markets.
Fever-Tree remains the largest premium mixer brand in Europe and we
continue to drive the category's growth(1) . This has been
supported by increasing interest in the mixer category from both
retailers and spirit partners, who are more positive than ever
about the exciting trends surrounding long mixed drinks and
premiumisation.
ROW
We have made good progress in our ROW region, with revenue
growth of 6% to c.GBP26.7 million, which was slightly behind our
guidance as we lapped a stock build by our importers in the second
half of 2020. However, underlying sales growth in our key markets
remained encouraging, at c.20% year-on-year, against very strong
comparators from 2020.
Our two largest markets in the region are Australia and Canada,
where we continued to drive category growth and increase our value
share. In Canada, Fever-Tree delivered more incremental value in
the Off-Trade Tonic category than any other brand to become the
largest Tonic brand at retail(1) , as well as growing across all
mixer categories, with new launches in the Soda & Sparkling
segment driving premiumisation of the mixer category.
Australia benefitted from much more favourable conditions in the
On-Trade during the first half of the year, enabling us to activate
the brand through this important channel. And while restrictions
were re-introduced during H2, we were able to focus on the
Off-Trade and extend our position as the premium mixer category
leader[4], increasing our share across both retail and liquor
channels.
During 2021 the Group continued to extend its brand presence
across the Rest of the World, entering three new countries and
developing new and existing relationships with international and
local hotel chains, retailers and spirit companies alike. This
gives us a good platform to drive growth across a broad set of
mixing occasions in an ever-increasing number of markets.
Financials
The Group performed well during 2021 against a backdrop of
unprecedented macro uncertainty and supply chain disruption. Our
EBITDA margin continued to be impacted in the second half as a
result of these macro headwinds, but due to the strong revenue
performance, absolute EBITDA and Earnings are expected to be in
line with expectations.
The Group remains in a strong financial position, with a robust
balance sheet and cash increasing by 16% to GBP166 million.
FY22 outlook
The momentum the Group has built in our key markets, our
continued brand strength and the increasingly supportive consumer
trends we are seeing, gives us confidence in the Group's position
as we look ahead, despite the challenges that remain in the
market.
The Off-Trade continues to perform well across our regions as
at-home consumption and interest in premium long mixed drinks
becomes increasingly established, supported by both retailers and
spirits companies. We expect Off-Trade demand to remain at higher
levels than pre-pandemic and are well placed to benefit from this
sustained shift in consumer behaviour. We also remain confident
that the On-Trade will continue to recover as we progress through
the year. Consequently, we estimate that we will grow revenue to
between GBP355 million and GBP365 million in FY22.
The Group retains its resolute focus on the long-term
opportunity and is investing behind this, enabled by our strong
balance sheet and conviction in our ability to deliver long-term
sustainable growth. However, it is now clear that cost headwinds in
2022 will be more significant than we anticipated, and whilst we
are employing a range of mitigating actions, margins are expected
to remain broadly flat in 2022, resulting in an EBITDA range of
between GBP69 million and GBP72 million.
Tim Warrillow, CEO of Fever-Tree commented:
"I am very pleased with the performance of the brand this year.
Our fantastic team have worked incredibly hard through another year
of uncertainty and disruption to produce an outstanding set of
results, taking the brand's strength and breadth around the world
to new heights. Most notably we finished the year as the No.1 Tonic
Water brand by value at US retail, which is a significant
achievement, matching an accolade that we have held in the UK for a
number of years. In addition, the continued resilience of the
On-Trade and our close relationships with our customers has enabled
this channel to recover strongly across all of our key markets.
Over the last two years we have seen an acceleration in
supportive consumer trends, such as the growing interest in long
mixed drinks, especially at home, as well as the premiumisation of
both the spirit and mixer categories. Retailers, spirits brands and
consumers are all getting behind these trends and Fever-Tree, as
the World's "Number one best-selling mixer"[5], "Number one top
trending mixer"(5) and the largest premium mixer brand, is
incredibly well-placed to continue to take advantage of this
significant and long-term trend.
The Group continues to deliver impressive growth in every one of
our key markets, however, I am of course mindful that short-term
logistics challenges and cost pressures remain, along with On-Trade
restrictions, albeit at a much lower level than this time last
year. Despite this, Fever-Tree's strong growth and track record
against the competition, alongside supportive global trends, gives
us confidence in our ability to capitalise on the substantial
global opportunity."
For more information please contact:
Investor queries
Ann Hyams, Director of Investor Relations I ann.hyams@fever-tree.com I +44 (0)20 4516 8106
Media queries
Oliver Winters, Director of Communications I
oliver.winters@fever-tree.com I +44 (0)770 332 9024
Nominated Advisor and Joint Broker - Numis Securities
Garry Levin 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; Amanda Healy +44 (0)7795 051 635
[1] Nielsen
[2] CGA 12 weeks to 9 Oct 2021
[3] IRI 13 weeks to 26 December 2021
[4] Woolworths & Coles scan data
[5] Drinks International 2022
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTBFMRTMTBTBTT
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 27, 2022 01:59 ET (06:59 GMT)
Fevertree Drinks (LSE:FEVR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Fevertree Drinks (LSE:FEVR)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024
