FDBusiness.com

Scottish bottled water producer Highland Spring Group and Lucozade Ribena Suntory have signed a distribution agreement for the UK market. Independently owned Highland Spring Group has a portfolio of bottled water brands including its flagship Highland Spring brand, the leading UK produced bottled water brand, along with Hydr8 and Speyside Glenlivet. Lucozade Ribena Suntory will distribute these brands within the impulse and out of home channels while Highland Spring Group will continue to sell the brands directly in the retail sector, as well as manage its private label business.

Lucozade Ribena Suntory was formed in January 2014, when Japanese global beverage company – Suntory Beverage & Food, the world’s third largest soft drinks company – acquired the Lucozade and Ribena brands from GlaxoSmithKline, which is one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, for £1.35 billion.

Les Montgomery, chief executive of Highland Spring Group, comments: “The UK market is our heartland and we want to maximise the opportunity for consumers to choose our products wherever they are. LRS has an extensive distribution network and field resource. Outsourcing our impulse and out of home sales operation enables us to provide increased and focused support to our trade customers and to jointly develop plans that drive bottled water category sales.”