Manchester firm buys Sunderland's Clearly Drinks in £15m deal

Historic Sunderland drinks company Clearly Drinks has been sold in a £15m deal.

The Southwick firm - which dates back to 1885 - has been bought by Manchester’s Supreme plc, which manufactures and supplies vapes, as well as operating in other areas of the consumer goods market. It says it has bought Clearly Drinks as part of efforts to diversify its operations.

Clearly Drinks supplies many of the main supermarkets and food retailers with its Perfectly Clear, Northumbria Spring, and Revolution Waves brands. Its customers include Waitrose, Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Farm Foods and it also provides private and own-label drinks for supermarkets and discounters and serves as a contract manufacturer for some of the world’s largest soft drinks companies.

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Its plant at Southwick - which was recently visited by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer - has three onsite natural boreholes that are capable of accessing up to 300m litres of spring water annually. It also has a new canning line with the capacity to produce 350m canned drinks each year in glass or plastic bottles.

Sandy Chadha, CEO of Supreme, said: “We are delighted to be acquiring Clearly, a high-quality manufacturer and brand owner of soft drinks. Our enlarged business is gaining not only a strong additional pillar that aligns with our Vaping, Lighting, Batteries, and Sports Nutrition & Wellness categories but also a significant opportunity to develop and capitalise on the further cross and upsell opportunities facilitated by our trusted reputation across the UK retail space.”

Supreme has acquired 100% of the share capital of Acorn Topco Limited, the parent company of Clearly Drinks, on a cash-free, debt-free basis from NorthEdge Capital LLP. The £15m deal has been funded from Supreme’s free cash.

Clearly Drinks - which last year reported unaudited revenues of £22.4m and adjusted Ebitda of £3m - will continue to operate from its Sunderland site, maintaining access to its onsite boreholes.