Symington’s has thirst for growth after Quosh deal

FOOD firm Symington’s has bought the Quosh brand from Britvic, resulting in the launch of a range of powdered drinks and marking its first foray into the drinks market.

Yorkshire-based Symington’s, which has sites in Leeds and Bradford, and employs around 600 people, also has plans to expand its headquarters at Cross Green, Leeds, to cope with its growth.

Turnover for the company was £125m for the year to the end of February 2012, with £174m forecast for the year ahead.

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David Salkeld, chief executive of Symington’s, said: “We have around 20 per cent a year growth in terms of revenue. We are working on a number of acquisitions as we speak and we are working on future product development. We fully expect to create hundreds of jobs in Leeds in the future.”

The company is applying for planning permission from Leeds City Council to extend its warehouse and offices at Cross Green, Leeds, to create a new product development suite, said Mr Salkeld.

The existing warehouse is 120,000 sq ft, but with the proposed extension it would be 150,000 sq ft.

He added: “We are also looking at building a second warehouse [of 130,000 sq ft] on land owned by the council adjacent to Cross Green. The extension hopefully should be built in the next 12 months and the new warehouse in the next 24-36 months.”

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In a fortnight’s time, Symington’s will also expand its Dartmouth Way site in Leeds, by moving into the former Baron Bros building, providing the firm with an extra 10,000 sq ft.

Having bought the brand Quosh for use in dried products from soft drinks company Britvic for an undisclosed amount, Symington’s will now see its range of powdered drinks go on sale in Asda stores nationwide from Saturday. Eventually, the plan is to roll out the products to other supermarkets.

The Quosh range of powdered drinks include three squashes in a variety of flavours, as well as an Energy drink and a Sport drink. Water is added to the powder to make the drinks, which have no added sugar or artificial colours.

David Cherrie, marketing manager, said: “We identified an opportunity for powdered drinks. If you look at the United States for example, there are massive brands which have a massive distribution.” He cited Tang and Crystal Light, which are owned by Kraft Foods, as examples.

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Mr Cherrie explained: “Everyone has water coolers in the office but they don’t necessarily want to carry a big bottle around with them. The other key thing is packed lunches at school. Pupils are given water at school and there’s the opportunity to add one of the sachets.

“There has never been a powdered squash format in the UK previously as far as I’m aware.” He stressed the “great value” of the products, compared to ready-to-serve drinks.

The total soft drinks market in the UK is worth £8.32bn, which includes carbonates and concentrates. The total concentrates market, which comprises of those which require the addition of water, is valued at £870m.

Mr Cherrie said: “The opportunity is bigger than retail. The opportunity is there within gyms for example. Can we get these into garage forecourts? With its unique format, there’s that opportunity to get it beyond those big four supermarkets.”

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To market the Quosh range, Symington’s will be focusing on getting people to sample the drinks.

Mr Cherrie said: “We have got to get people to try the products. We will be doing sampling in store and we will be tying into social media. We’ve also got the Asda in-store magazine. Sampling is going to be the key vehicle to get the product into people’s hands.”

Mr Salkeld added: “We will be launching another 250 brand new products over the next 12 months. Some of those will be challenging some of the biggest brands in the world.”

Mr Cherrie said: “We take brands that have previously been unloved by their owners and we inject new life into them. A lot of categories we operate in are huge categories with big players.”

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He said that as well as growth in terms of new product development, Symington’s has also seen continued growth in its existing products.

Symington’s is re-launching Ragu and Chicken Tonight in June, after acquiring the brands from Unilever last year.

Ainsley Harriott and Mug Shot are also included among its range of brands.

About £2.5m of Symington’s revenues are made abroad, with £1.5m of that in Australia, said Mr Salkeld, who declined to discuss profit figures.

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Symington’s was bought by Mr Salkeld and Henrik Pade, marketing director, who are both key shareholders in the business, in a management buy-in in September 2007, with backing from Bridgepoint Development Capital and Yorkshire Bank.

The company was originally set up by William Symington in 1837 when he invented dried soup.

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