January 1, 2011
The entrepreneurs behind the UK’s fastest growing juice drink company have landed a six-figure investment following a high-profile PR campaign run by Mason Media.
John Heseltine, from Middlesbrough, and Martin Hall, from York, have secured £600,000 funding from Clydesdale Bank.
The backing by Clydesdale Bank comes just months after Mason Media helped the owners launch an outspoken attack on the country’s banks with newspapers including the Financial Times and Daily Telegraph carrying prominent interviews with the businessmen.
Heseltine and Hall had previously blamed a lack of support from most of the high street banks for holding up their rate of growth and worldwide expansion plans.
Now, thanks to the backing of Clydesdale Bank, the company plans to build on its first year turnover of £1.2million – significantly more than the now established Innocent achieved in its first year of trading – with aggressive growth planned for the UK, Europe, Middle East and United States.
Cherrygood is currently listed in all major supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons, and it plans to increase UK sales alone to more than £10million within five years.
Through its ‘Investing for Growth’ initiative, which enables well-performing UK trading companies to take advantage of expansion opportunities, Clydesdale Bank will support Cherrygood with an Enterprise Finance Guarantee loan, as well as invoice discounting to aid cash flow.
Paul Debney, Business Partner at Clydesdale Bank, said: “Having been approached by the team at Cherrygood, and hearing that they had hit problems in their efforts to secure finance, we quickly sat down with John and Martin, to see whether through our ‘Investing for Growth’ initiative we could help.
“It was immediately obvious that they knew the market, had a clear and shared vision, robust business plan and real drive and determination to become a major player in the juice drink market. They have ambitious plans and 2011 will see them bring a number of new products to market and I’m sure will see them achieve significant growth.”
The Bank announced recently that it has made £4.7 billion available over the last 12 months as part of its commitment to lend £10 billion over two years.
The inspiration for Cherrygood came while Heseltine lived in the States. Having studied at Harvard he spent time holidaying in the ‘cherry belt’ in Michigan, from where he now sources his Montmorency cherries. John had previously created and sold Lovejuice, a natural fruit juice retail chain, for £3.4million.
Heseltine, 36, said: “We are delighted that we have at last found a bank which is willing to form a genuine partnership with Cherrygood and help us to achieve the exciting and dynamic growth plans we have for our business.
“We found it incredible that many of the other high street banks were unwilling to back a profitable and growing business which had quickly achieved listings in all of the major supermarkets. We believe their loss is very much Clydesdale’s gain – it is just a shame that we have had to spend so much of this year looking for a banking partner that believed in our product and our aggressive plans for growth both within the UK and worldwide.
“Sales have been increasing month-on-month as consumers become more aware of the wonderful taste of our products and the amazing inherent health benefits of cherry juice.
“Success in business, like in life, is all about being in the right place at the right time, and we have struck on a product which not only tastes great, but has recognised health giving properties, and importantly has growing global appeal.”
Meanwhile, Martin Hall said: “We are the fastest growing new juice drink on the market set against a backdrop of decline in the juice and smoothies market which has seen sales plummet by £114million in the past two years.
“Ocean Spray has successfully built a billion pound global brand based on a single fruit, and given that Cherries arguably taste better and are better for you, then I see no reason why we can’t achieve a £100m turnover within 10 years. And we are looking forward to growing with Clydesdale Bank.”