KEY POINTS:
Drinks company Charlie's Group says sales for the year are up 56.6 per cent - though some of the fizz is due to the timing of its acquisition of the Phoenix Organics brand.
A company statement to the NZX said sales growth for the year ended June 30 had increased by $9.7 million to $26.9 million.
But results are skewed by the timing of its 2005 acquisition of Phoenix Organics.
Sales in the previous accounting period included just seven months of trading for the Phoenix Organics rather than a full year.
Phoenix now provides about half of the sales for Charlie's Group which would immediately account for a significant part of the growth.
But even adjusting for that factor, sales were still up, the company said.
Charlie's chairman Ted van Arkel said results reflected better access to retail outlets - especially through Progressive Enterprises, the company that runs Foodtown, Countdown and Woolworths supermarket outlets. Charlie's has said in the past Phoenix Organics distribution system has helped to widen access to the market for Charlie's brand juices.
In the chilled juice category, Charlie's' retail sales revenue grew at 32.9 per cent in comparison to growth of the overall chilled market of 5.6 per cent.
Charlie's Group chief executive Stefan Lepionka said that growth was partly down to the global trend towards premium beverage brands, with consumers willing to pay for high quality, healthy products.
Two major juice multinational companies - Coca-Cola Amatil and Frucor - had focused on the non-premium juice market.
However Coca-Cola has also reported 12 per cent growth in Australian and New Zealand markets.
Charlie's Group exports into Australia grew 36 per cent from the previous 12-month period largely through doubling the amount of outlets that take the Phoenix Organics drinks.
Van Arkel said the group planned introducing Charlie's brand juices into Australia but was limited now because of a packaging agreement that prevented distribution into Australia.
Charlie's Group shares closed up 1c yesterday at 18.5c.
The company will release its final audited results next month.
