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FeverTree Drinks up after co-founder Tim Warrillow cashes in on nearly £29mln worth of shares

Published: 12:14 26 Jul 2017 BST

Fevertree Drinks tonic water
Tim Warrillow and Charles Rolls set up the business in 2005 to challenge the dominance of Schweppes.

Fevertree Drinks PLC’s (LON:FEV) chief executive and co-founder, Tim Warrillow, has sold off 1.5mln shares in the company on Tuesday at £19.25 each, raking in nearly £29mln. Warrillow now only hold a 5.4% stake in the tonic water maker.

The company, in a statement announced that non-executive chairman Bill Ronald had also sold shares on Tuesday, raising £1mln. He now holds a 0.3% stake in the company.

Both of them have said that they will not sell further shares in the company for the next 12 months, subject to certain customary exceptions, without Investec’s prior written consent.

READ: Fever-Tree shares sparkle as it raises full year guidance after first half revenues jump 77%

News of the share sale came on the same day, the upmarket tonic water manufacturer recorded a 77% surge in half-year revenues and said full year results would be “materially ahead of expectations”.

The upbeat results saw Fever-Tree’s share price surge 23% to £21.56 before settling at £20.58 on Tuesday.

In midday trade Wednesday, the shares were up 5.69% at £21.75.

Share sale to meet demand from institutional investors

A company spokesman said that the stake sale was to satisfy the demand from institutional investors in both the US and UK.

A former advertising executive, Warrillow, raised £7.6mln by selling shares when Fever-Tree was listed at 134p a share in November 2014, valuing the company at £154mln. The company is now worth £2.4bn.

READ: Fevertree goes flat as founder cashes in £73mln worth of shares

This is not the first time Warrillow has offloaded shares in the company. He has raised around £42mln since the flotation. 

Similarly, co-founder Charles Rolls sold a quarter of his shares in May, taking in about £73mln.

Warrillow and Rolls set up the business in 2005 to challenge the dominance of Schweppes.

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