Welsh Drinks Company to Double Capacity

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Welsh Drinks Company to Double Capacity

Radnor Hills, which specialises in bottled water, reports a surge in sales following the sugar health scare

Radnor Hills, a family-run soft drinks company based in mid-Wales, has revealed plans to almost double its production capabilities to meet ballooning demand for healthier alternatives to sugary juice concentrates.

The firm currently has the capacity to produce 180m bottles of water, flavoured spring water and fruit-based tonics each year, but this will jump to 300m following a £4.5m investment into bottling lines.

Owner William Watkins said he hopes to take on the industry-dominating conglomerates by producing more premium fruit-based drinks that are lower in sugar and are made from British-sourced ingredients, such as blackberries from nearby Hereford and raspberries from Scotland.

“Our industry is dominated by enormous players - we are like the mouse that’s running though the elephant pen. We’ve become much more than a water company. Fruit juice has been having a problem because of the negative press about sugar, but not the ones we’ve been involved with. Our quality control is good and we’re priced at the right level,” he said.

Radnor Hills was founded in the early 1990s, when Mr Watkins decided to bottle the family farm’s water and sell it to airlines and other commercial customers. The company’s big break came when it landed a deal to supply McDonalds in the mid-1990s, and it began to experiment with flavoured water.

The Powys-based firm, which is 100pc owned by Mr Watkins and employs 140 people, now has an annual turnover of £29m, which is expected to rise to £50m over the next five years.

Around half of Radnor Hills’ business involves making own-label bottles of water for the UK’s major supermarkets, while the company also produces flavoured water and premium fruit tonics under the Radnor Hills name.

The company benefited from the recession as many consumers switched from branded products and turned to cheaper, supermarket-labelled drinks. Turnover jumped from £7.7m in 2008 to £10m in 2009 alone.

Source: The Telegraph

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