S&N in cider production joint venture

Scottish & Newcastle (S&N) has revealed more details of its cider-making joint venture, designed to help cope with booming demand.

The joint venture with Herefordshire-based Q Group will see a new facilty built at Ledbury, Herefordshire, to mill apples and other fruit, and to produce and package cider.

The new plant will be the largest of its type in western Europe and will be closely linked to the main S&N cider making site at Bulmers in Hereford. The Bulmers site will continue to produce around 3.5m hectolitres of cider annually, with the new venture providing added capacity when needed.

In the last quarter S&N has seen its total cider market share increase to 52.7 per cent, driven by growth of draught brand leader Strongbow and the success of Bulmers Original, which has taken share of the bottled cider market from Irish brand Magners.

The JV will manage all apple milling and processing for S&N under an initial 10 year contract, shifting milling from the Bulmers site, which would need major capital investment and can only mill apples for 12 weeks of the year, during the harvest. The new venture will enable the milling equipment to process a variety of fruit and vegetables for the remainder of the year.

"This is a good long term strategic solution to manage the rapid growth of the cider industry while ensuring that we remain loyal to our Herefordshire roots," said Stephen Glancey, group operations director for S&N. "We are already looking to increase the acreage of apple orchards in the area, which is one of the best places in the world for growing cider apples.

"The additional milling and cider making capacity that this JV will generate ensures that we can continue to lead the market in the future with consistent supply of high quality ciders."