Nichols H1 turnover up - Brief Article

Eurofood, August 31, 2000

UK firm Nichols, famous for the soft drink Vimto, but also a manufacturer and supplier to the food industry, has reported a set of `pleasing' figures for the first half of fiscal 2000. Turnover for the group was up 13% to 42.7m [pounds sterling] (70m [European Dollar]) from 37.8m [pounds sterling] the previous year, and operating profit was up 15% to 3.1m [pounds sterling] compared to 2.7m [pounds sterling] in 1999. Nichols has undergone some restructuring during the first half of the year, with its Nichols food business undertaking a major development to supply single portion sachets to the food service market. This move involved a 1.6m [pounds sterling] capital investment. Stockpack, its contract packer to the food industry has also made significant progress reports the company. Having produced poor results last year, Nichols expects Stockpack to make a profit for the year.

Nichols H1 results ([pounds sterling] '000)

                     1999     2000

Turnover           37 812   42 725
Operating profit    2 668    3 107
Pre-tax profit      3 422    2 671

Source: Nichols