According to the brand the declines are a result of the closure of on-trade markets around the world due to Covid-19, which were partly offset by a boost in off-trade sales.
The full FY20 results can be found here
Tim Warrillow, co-founder and CEO of Fever-Tree:
“Although 2020 presented many unforeseen challenges, our resilient performance highlights the strength of the business and the Fever-Tree brand which is testament to the proactive and entrepreneurial way our team and our partners responded.
“Our performance in the off-trade was especially strong, exceeding our expectations across all our regions. Numerous periods of lockdown during the year encouraged increased consumer interest in premium spirits and stimulated excitement about mixing drinks at home, attracting more households and new consumers to the Fever-Tree brand than ever before.
“Consequently, we have increased our penetration in the UK, driven value share gains in the US, and Europe, and gained real traction in Canada and Australia. Despite the restrictions and closures that impacted the on-trade for a large proportion of the year we didn’t furlough any of our team enabling us to support our customers across the on-trade and off-trade, strengthening our relationships and securing new contracts.
“Our resilient performance can also be attributed to the proactive and rapid actions taken by the business to respond to the evolving consumption and purchasing habits that emerged during the pandemic.
“Crucially, we did this while remaining focused on the longer-term opportunity. We expanded our team across all our regions, as well as acquiring our sales agent in Germany, and began local production in the US for the first time.
“We also launched new products with our premium soda range in the UK targeting the significant vodka category and Pink Grapefruit in the US targeting the fast-growing tequila category. Both launches were very encouraging, delivering an excellent rate of sale growth as well as attracting new consumers to the brand.
“Whilst our on-trade business remains impacted by the continued shutdowns and restrictions across many of our regions, we have had a very positive start to 2021 across the off-trade. The momentum seen in 2020 has continued in the first part of March 18, 2021 the new year with strong sales in our major markets, most notably the UK and US.
“We are working closely with our on-trade customers as they prepare for re-opening across our regions and while we are mindful of the gradual nature of easing of restrictions, we share their optimism and excitement for this important channel in the months and years ahead.
“Our confidence in the future is underpinned by the long-term trend towards premium spirits and long mixed drinks which accelerated during 2020 and a trend that Fever-Tree, with our category leadership position, range and relationships, remains uniquely placed to continue to benefit from.”
