Vaping giant Supreme acquires historic Clearly Drinks for £15m
Vaping and vitamins maker Supreme has acquired Clearly Drinks for £15m, it has been announced.
The Manchester-headquartered listed group has snapped up the company, which was founded in 1885 and makes specialised canned and bottled-at-source spring water and soft drinks.
Clearly Drinks currently has around 70 customers nationwide including major UK retailers Waitrose, Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Farm Foods.
The brand is also the owner of Perfectly Clear, Northumbria Spring and Revolution Waves.
Sunderland-headquartered Clearly Drinks employs around 100 people and reported a revenue of £22.4m for 2023 and an adjusted EBITDA of £3m.
In a statement, Supreme’s chief executive Sandy Chadha said: “We are delighted to be acquiring Clearly, a high-quality manufacturer and brand owner of soft drinks, which I believe delivers a significant component of our broader diversification strategy.
“Our enlarged business is not only gaining a strong additional pillar, which fully aligns with our vaping, lighting, batteries and sports nutrition and wellness categories, but also a significant opportunity to develop and capitalise on further cross and upsell opportunities which our trusted reputation across the UK retail space facilitates.
“We look forward to welcoming Clearly into the Supreme family and updating shareholders on our progress over the course of the current financial year.”
In January, Supreme announced the acquisition out of administration of the trade and assets of FoodIQ UK Holdings Limited, the protein manufacturer, for £175,000.