Fevertree co-founder pockets £29m from share sale

Fevertree Drinks chief executive and co-founder, Tim Warrillow, has sold £29m worth of shares in the company.

The sale of 1.5m shares, which cut his stake in the group to 5.4%, follows a sale of 4.5m shares back in May by co-founder and non-executive Charles Rolls, which pocketed him £73m.

On Tuesday, Fevertree shares fizzed higher after it upgraded its full-year guidance and reported a surge in first-half pre-tax profit on the back of strong growth across all regions, channels and flavours.

In the six months to the end of June, pre-tax profit rose to £24.1m from £11.8m the year before, on revenue of £71.9m, up from £40.6m. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 102% to £25.2m and the interim dividend was lifted by 95% to 3.01p per share.

In the UK, sales were up 113%, while Continental Europe saw sales grow 64%. Rest of World sales rose 45%, with sales in the US up 43%.

Given its strong performance in the first half, the company said it now expects the outcome for the full year to be "materially ahead of its expectations".

At 1435 BST, the shares were up 3.9% to 2,138p.