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FeverTree (FEVR) has reported a 39% surge in annual revenues for its full 2018 financial year, driven by 52% growth in its home market.

Full year revenue for the year to 31 December 2018 is expected to be £236m, a rise of 39% year-on-year.

It has reported “very strong” sales growth of 52% in the UK with “robust rate of sales growth in both the on and off trade channels”.

The company said it enjoyed an “outstanding” summer trading period and finished the year with a strong performance over Christmas, further strengthening its position as the number one mixer brand by value in the UK off-trade.

USA sales grew by 21%, which represented “significant operational progress in our first period of direct management of the region”.

Sales growth increased in the second half and its exclusive trade relationship with Southern Glazer’s WINE & Spirits and the “positive progress” in the off-trade provides “an excellent platform for further growth in 2019”.

Sales were up 24% in Contental Europe, with sales growth accelerating in the second half, while rest of the world was up 48% year-on-year.

Fever-Tree said that this continue strong sales performance in the second half meant its earnings outcome for the full year will be “comfortably ahead of the board’s expectations.”

Tim Warrillow, co-founder and CEO, said: “We have seen very strong momentum across the business during 2018. The UK delivered an exceptional performance while Europe has seen positive performance resulting in growth accelerating in the second half. We are particularly encouraged by the progress to date in the USA and the strong platform for further growth this provides.

“The progress we have seen during the last 12 months means we enter 2019 very well positioned and remain optimistic about the long-term global opportunity ahead.

“Drinking habits are changing. The rise of premium spirits and the advent of premium mixers has reinvigorated and re-established the quality and enjoyment of the long-mixed drink, be it a gin & tonic, vodka & ginger beer or whiskey & ginger ale to name but a few. Fever-Tree is at the forefront of this trend, broadening the appeal of the spirits category, drawing in new consumers and with it providing a genuine alternative to the beer and wine occasion.”

FeverTree shares have jumped 8.5% on this morning’s news to 2,818p.

Morning update

PayPoint (PAY) has issued a trading update for the three months ended 31 December 2018, outlining continued “good progress across all key growth drivers”.

Group underlying net revenue increased by 1.4% in the period to £30.9m.

Including the impact of £1.3 million from the closure of the Simple Payment Service by the Department for Works and Pensions and the renegotiated Yodel parcel fees, net revenue declined by 2.8%.

Transactions increased 0.9% to 174.2 million from 172.6 million in the third quarter of last year.

Underlying net revenue in the UK increased by £0.2m (0.9%) to £27.2m driven by underlying net revenue growth of 3.9% in retail services.

Card payment transactions grew by 23.0% to 28.8 million driving a £0.2m in net revenue, while strong momentum continued in the Parcels business.

However, overall top-up and e-money transactions declined by 15.0% to 11.1 million, driven by the continued decline in the prepaid mobile sector.

CEO Dominic Taylor commented: “PayPoint has reported another solid quarter with good progress being made across all our key growth drivers. We continue to rollout PayPoint One, now operating in over 12,000 convenience retailers and we have increased our year-end target to 12,700 sites.

“Our parcels business had a successful first Christmas with our new partner, eBay, and we are pleased to have a third partner contracted to the Collect+ network. Bill payments in the UK and Romania delivered a resilient performance with 11 new clients contracted and we saw strong growth in our MultiPay platform of 43.6% with 8.0 million transactions in the quarter.

“We continue to innovate to improve our retail proposition with respect to service and products in order to drive value to local shopkeepers. Our solid underlying net revenue growth and continued strong cost management in the quarter means that the Board’s full year expectations remain in line with the outlook provided in November.”

Elsewhere, Christmas failed to halt declining retail job numbers, according to the BRC’s retail sales monitor for the fourth quarter of 2018,

The total number of retail employees was down 2.2% on last year, the equivalent to 70,000 retail jobs with reductions in hours similar for full-time and part-time contracts.

Total hours fell by 2.8% with full time hours down by 2.9% and part-time hours down 2.8% compared to the Q4 2017.

The research found that employment intentions vary, with 29% of retailers indicated plans to reduce staff in the coming quarter. However, a greater proportion of survey participants planned to increase their labour requirements compared to the previous year.

BRC chief exec Helen Dickinson commented: “The retail industry is undergoing a profound change and the latest employment data underpins those trends. Technology is changing both the way consumers shop, but also the types of jobs that exist in retail. While we expect the number of frontline staff to fall over the next decade, there will many new jobs created in areas such as digital marketing and AI.

“However, this transformation comes at a cost for retailers, who are already weighed down by the increasing costs of public policy, from sky high business rates to rising minimum wage. To support this investment in the future of retail, Government needs to play its part, reforming the broken business rates system to ensure it is fit for the 21st century.”

On the markets this morning, the FTSE 100 has dropped another 0.2% to 6,830pts.

Early risers include Just Eat (JE), up 3.1% to 671.8p, Pets at Home (PETS) up 1.8% to 145.6p and Devro (DVO), up 0.9% to 166.5p.

Fallers so far include Majestic Wine (WINE), down 3.7% to 264p, Reckitt Benckiser (RB), down 2.5% to 5,640p, Premier Foods (PFD), down 2% to 35.1p and McBride (MCB), down 1.7% to 130p.

PayPoint is up 0.2% to 833p following this morning’s update.

Yesterday in the City

The FTSE 100 slipped back 0.9% to 6,842.9pts yesterday as the strengthening of the pound to a ten-week high against the dollar hit the index’s global firms.

Reckitt Benckiser (RB) fell back 4.1% yesterday back to 5,784p, while British American Tobacco (BATS) dropped 1.9% to 2,483p.

Other fallers included DS Smith (SMDS), down 5.4% to 317.3p, Marton’s (MARS), down 4.8% to 97.9p after announcing it is to scale back its expansion programme as part of plans to tackle its growing debt pile, Cake Box, down 2.7% to 165.5p, Just Eat (JE), down 2.4% to 651.8p and McColl’s (MCLS), down 1.7% to 63.9p.

Meanwhile, WH Smith jumped 4% yesterday to 1,951p as it announced sales for the 20 weeks to 19 January rose a better than expected 6%.

Hotel Chocolat (HOTC) was also up 4.6% yesterday to 282.5p after the retailer reported a 15% sales surge during the 13 weeks to 31 December.

Other strong risers included Finsbury Food Group (FIF), up 4.4% to 83p, Hilton Food Group (HFG), up 2.9% to 938p, Premier Foods (PFD), up 2.4% to 35.9p and PZ Cussons (PZC), up 1.9% to 213.4p.

In the FTSE 100 Morrisons (MRW), was up 1.8% to 233.2p, while Tesco (TSCO) rose 1.5% to 223.6p and Ocado (OCDO) rose 1.1% to 924.6p.

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