Fever-Tree’s remarkable UK growth has slowed, it emerged on Tuesday, sending shares in the upmarket mixers maker down 8.6%.
Although the premium tonic company posted a 5% UK sales rise for the six months to June 30, it said that was slower than in previous periods when there were “exceptional rises”.
Boss Tim Warrillow said the firm still dominates the UK market. But, he said bad weather hit performance in the period compared with a year earlier, when it benefited from the sunshine and football World Cup fuelling demand.
Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Felton said the 5% growth is “disappointing”. However, he added the bad weather “is not unique to Fever-Tree within the beverages space".
Total first-half sales at Fever-Tree rose 13% to £117.3 million.
The shares fell 198p to 2102p. Fever-Tree floated at 134p a share in November 2014.
Warrillow remained upbeat and praised the US performance. The outcome for the full-year is expected to be in line with forecasts.
