Highland Spring

Simon Oldham, group commercial director of Highland Spring

Highland Spring’s plans to double its production capacity are underway with the extension of its Perthshire factory.

Building work began on 25 July in a move that will see a new production line at the water brand’s Blackford site. An investment of £16m has been made to double the production capacity of the business within the next 12 months.

Highland Spring hopes to improve upon the 9.4% year-on-year growth it experienced in the past 12 months, which was higher than the 8.7% category average [IRI 52 w/e 16 July 2016].

“We have great confidence in the underlying strength of the category and our investment plans to drive long-term sustainable growth,” said Simon Oldham, group commercial director of Highland Spring Group.

“The factory extension will increase capacity at our main Blackford site by 50%. This will allow us to capitalise on the fact that bottled water still has plenty of room for further growth, with 60% of the population drinking just one serving of water or less a day, as opposed to the recommended eight servings.”