Fever-Tree chief toasts £29m windfall

Tim Warrillow, who co-founded the group, sold 1.5 million shares in the business in what Fever-Tree said was a “response to demand from institutional investors”.

The move reduces Mr Warrillow’s stake to 5.4 per cent and comes just two months after another co-founder - deputy chairman Charles Rolls - banked £73m through a share sale.

It also comes as the tonic water group has seen its share price rise more than 1000 per cent since its stock market flotation in late 2014.

Fever-Tree has had an exceptional run of late, and on Tuesday it again upgraded its profits forecast after revenues fizzed up in the first half of the year.

The firm, which specialises in selling mixers such as ginger beer and Sicilian lemonade, said its performance was driven by the UK, where it saw “exceptional growth of 113 per cent”.

Mr Warrillow founded Fever-Tree with Mr Rolls in 2004.

Named after the tree in which quinine - a key ingredient for tonic - is found, the pair wanted to offer a premium tonic water with no artificial sweeteners, preservatives or flavourings.

They produced their first bottle of tonic water in 2005 and now sell a range of 12 different flavours.

The group has rapidly expanded its international sales in recent years and now makes around 56 per cent of annual revenues from outside the UK, with key overseas markets being the US, Spain, and Belgium.