Vimto maker Nichols wants to secure more space on Brits’ breakfast tables after launching a new Vimto drink for the morning earlier this month.
Nichols is aiming to grow revenue by 30% by 2029 and said new products would be key to its success.
This would include a big focus on breakfast as part of the company’s strategy to boost its presence in categories and trends undergoing sizeable growth.
“There are fewer soft drinks consumed between breakfast and lunch than other day parts so it’s thinking about what innovation we can launch to try and get incremental opportunities,” said CEO Andrew Milne.
Earlier this month it got the ball rolling with the launch of Vimto Wonderfuel, a new squash made with real fruit juice that was “very much targeting the breakfast occasion”, Milne said.
More Wonderfuel products are already in the pipeline, though Nichols is waiting to see how they land before pushing out more.
“It’s important when you launch innovation you don’t launch too much and dilute,” Milne said.
“What you try and do is launch what you think are going to be the key winners, and invest behind them so you get longevity. What we don’t want is load of innovation, and none of it sticks.”
New Vimto energy gels have also been released in the past couple of weeks as part of a new licensing deal with Applied Nutrition. The deal includes hydration tablets due to be launched in the next month.
As the products had just launched, Milne said it was too soon to quantify sales expectations.
In November, he said the business would look to add new licensed soft drinks every “two or three years” to bring “excitement and innovation” to its portfolio.
Milne was speaking after Nichols reported a 16% leap in profits last year. In the UK, its packaged division grew 6.3% as Vimto hit its highest-ever retail sales of £121.2m.
In its African business, turnover was down 6.3% as it shifted to a lower-revenue, higher-margin model of selling concentrate. This involves moving production to Senegal in favour of canning in Spain, helping to drive margin and cut emissions.
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