Zoetic explores outsourcing as demand grows

Zoetic will shortly begin trialling sales of Chill products through retail distributor Mr Checkout and said it was "optimistic about the outcome" based on correspondence with the company.

The London-listed group said it was also in discussions with a further major distributor in relation to the chew pouches.

However, in light of the potential high demand, Zoetic said it had reviewed its manufacturing capability and discovered that if both of distributors proceed as expected then demand may exceed its existing manufacturing capacity.

"To ensure there is no disruption to supply, management has started exploring solutions and these may include either outsourcing some manufacturing or expanding its in-house capacity," said Zoetic.

Zoetic also cautioned that harvesting of its outdoor crop had completed in October and with plants now being dry, the weight yielded was less than expected. The company did note that this had been "more than offset" by the quality of the crop.

At 1045 GMT, the shares were down 2.7% at 8.22p.