Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 20 July 2019 | The Grocer | 11Elena Cherubini
Health-focused vending
machine business Mother
is eyeing national expan-
sion after securing a £3m
investment by Montreux
Capital Management in
exchange for a “substan-
tial” stake.
The London-based
company, whose cli-
ents include the likes
of Apple, Amazon and
Asos, will use the cash to
develop more machines
as it seeks to roll out on
a national scale within
the education, healthcare
and transport sectors.
Founded in 2014,
Mother vending
machines offer a range
of healthy snacks. Users
can access via touch-
screen images of avail-
able products, with
Mother eyes vending
machine rollout as it
secures £3m funding
nutritional information
and dietary filtering. The
machines accept card
or mobile payments and
provide digital receipts.
The cash injection will
also contribute to new
hires and investment
in technology, includ-
ing additions to the
machines’ customisable
advertising platform.
“Getting a significant
amount of investmentmeans that we can really
push on and develop our
technology,” founder Phil
Davison told The Grocer.
“We have got a huge
roadmap of things we
want to do.”
Development of its
white label offering,
allowing clients their
own branded machines,
was also being targeted
as Mother shifted its
focus towards becoming
a “tech company first”,
selling its software to
third parties.
Currently, Mother
machines are available
in more than 70 London
locations. It expects to
reach 100 by September,
including expansion out-
side the capital, while it
is also looking at launch-
ing across Europe.Mother vending machines
are in 70 sites in LondonWeetabix said consumption
occasions were down 0.4%A declining market
for branded cereals
hampered UK sales of
Weetabix in the brand’s
first full year under the
ownership of US cereal
giant Post Holdings.
Newly filed accounts at
Companies House for UK
trading arm Weetabix Ltd
showed a decline in pro-
rata sales of 6% to £303m
in the 12 months to 30
September 2018, com-
pared with £241.8m in its
prior nine-month period.
The accounts say sales
were hampered by a
decline in overall cereal
volume sales in 2018 as a
Weetabix sales down as decline
of branded cereals market hits
result of a 0.4% drop in
consumption occasions.
Additionally, private
label cereals continued to
increase market share at
the expense of branded
cereals as the discounters
continued to gain share,
leading to a decline invalue sales in the sector.
However, gross mar-
gin increased to 37.2%
from 34.2% due to lower
marketing spend and
cost improvements at
its Burton Latimer and
Corby factories.
Operating profits
before exceptional items
were up 8.3% on a pro-
rata basis to £56m.
Post’s most recent
financial update said
Weetabix brand sales
had fallen 1.8% to $205m
in the six months to 31
March, impacted by a
5.8% volume decline in
the second quarter.Irn-Bru maker AG Barr shocked the market this
week with a surprise profit warning, as poor
weather took the fizz out of its first-half sales.
The soft drinks group lost more than a quarter
of its value on Tuesday. Its shares dropped 28.1%
back to 624.8p, after it warned profits would be
20% lower year on year due to the damp weather
and weak performance of its secondary brands.
Analysts had been predicting AG Barr’s prof-
its to rise by around 5% annually from last year’s
figure of £46m, after its reformulation of core
ranges softened the impact of last year’s sugar
tax. However, AG Barr explained that first-half
sales were likely to be down 10% as volumes had
been hit by poor UK weather, its efforts to push
through price increases and the disappointing
performance of its Rockstar energy and Rubicon
juice brands.
Barclays warned: “The next six to 10 weeks will
be critical for the stock. Further risk to profits can-
not be ruled out with tough comps and any fur-
ther weather impacts.”
Elsewhere, Premier Foods posted some-
thing of a mixed first quarter trading update on
Wednesday, which showed solid sales progress
across its key brands being pulled back by fall-
ing international sales and weaker private label
performance.
Total group sales were up 1.1% in the quar-
ter, boosted by 2.9% branded growth and 4.9%
branded growth in the UK. The news that seven of
Premier’s eight biggest brands are back in growth
and Mr Kipling was up 10% year on year repre-
sented welcome progress.
However, non-branded sales collapsed 8.3%,
with private label sweet treats down a whopping
37.2% after exiting lower margin contracts, while
international sales slumped 18% due to weaker
performance in Ireland as Brexit-related stock
building took its toll.
Premier shares fell back 1.1% to 37.1p on the
news, but were back up 2.3% to 37.9p on Thursday.city news
Track the latest share price movement and
performance of 200 UK and international grocery
and fmcg stocks via the new Grocer Finance
channel at thegrocer.co.ukAG BARR SHARES
Dates: 18 July 2018 – 18 July 20191000900800700600
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2018 2019