Vimto company pays £5.5m for fizzy drinks

A fizzy drinks brand that has been a favourite with British children for 30 years has been snapped up for £5.5m (€7.9m), it emerged today.

Panda – popular with generations of youngsters for its multi-coloured Panda Pops range – has been sold by family brewer Hall & Woodhouse to soft drinks group Nichols.

Nichols said it had a range of ideas aimed at “livening up” the brand, which has recently been cashing in on the popularity of healthy drinks such as fruit juices and flavoured waters.

Dorset-based Hall & Woodhouse, which has an estate of around 250 pubs, was founded more than 200 years ago and is now run by the fifth generation of the Woodhouse family.

As well as selling the Panda range, it has sold on the rights to Popzone – a pick and mix range in supermarkets such as Asda.

Panda Pops includes flavours such as blue raspberry, strawberry jelly and ice cream and fruit salad, as well as cola and lemonade.

More recent additions include Panda Still – fruit flavoured drinks made from natural still spring water using natural flavours and colours.

Nichols recently offloaded its food manufacturing arm to focus on selling products such as Vimto and Sunkist.

It said today that it had a number of new marketing initiatives and new product ideas for the Panda range.

Chairman John Nichols said: “Panda is a strong brand orientated towards children that will significantly enhance our portfolio.”

Panda has annual sales of around £11.5m (€16.6m).