Nichols plc Regulatory News (NICL)

11 May 2005 11:00

Nichols PLC11 May 2005 Date: Embargoed until 11am, Wednesday 11 May 2005 Contacts: John Nichols, Chairman Brendan Hynes, Finance Director Nichols plc Telephone: 01925 222222 Alistair Mackinnon-Musson Philip Dennis Hudson Sandler Telephone: 020 7796 4133 Email: nichols@hspr.co.uk Nichols plc Acquisition & AGM Statement John Nichols Chairman of Nichols plc, the soft drinks group, made the followingstatement at the company's Annual General Meeting held today: "We are pleased to announce we have acquired the soft drinks on draughtbusiness, Beacon Soft Drinks. Based in Brighton and with annual turnover of£3.5m, Beacon holds a key position on the South coast and, when combined withour existing Cabana soft drinks on draught operation, it will cement the Group'sposition as a major player in the soft drinks dispense market in the UK. The purchase of Beacon Soft Drinks also demonstrates the Board's continued focuson its strategy of growing the Group's core operations following the sale ofNichols Foods and Stockpack in 2004 and the acquisition of Panda soft drinks inJanuary 2005. The integration of the Panda soft drinks brand into our Soft Drinks Division hascontinued to progress well. The Board is also pleased with the results achievedto date, which remain in line with our initial expectations. As mentioned in the Preliminary statement in March, we continue to anticipatesales of around £10m from the Panda brand in 2005 but with a limited impact onprofits this year, due to the costs associated with integrating the brand intoour distribution infrastructure. In overall terms, despite market conditions remaining fiercely competitive,Group trading since the Preliminary results has remained in line with ourexpectations." - ENDS - The Group has two principal operations: Soft Drinks (primarily involved in the sale of soft drinks, including Vimto,throughout the world and Panda and Sunkist in the UK) and Beverage Systems (Cabana, soft drinks on draught and Balmoral, supplier of hotbeverage systems) This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange