Sales: £263.2m (-7.1%)

Trop50 was supposed to pep up Tropicana. But the stevia-sweetened drink is down 6.6% in a year that saw it delisted by Waitrose in favour of its own-label lower-sugar lines.

“The lion’s share of Tropicana’s £20.1m loss was from Pure Premium”

Still, the lion’s share of its £20.1m losses came from the Pure Premium line, thanks to ongoing negative press around juice’s sugar content. With stevia reformulation turning out to be not quite the silver bullet it was once billed as, PepsiCo is following in rival Innocent’s (no30) footsteps and launching fruit & veg juice blends.

Banana, strawberry & beetroot; mango, passionfruit & pumpkin; and pineapple, orange & carrot juices have entered the Essentials line-up (the only major Tropicana range in growth) in family size 850ml packs, with their vitamin A, mineral and fibre content clearly displayed.

The NPD, launched in Tesco and Asda in February, is joined by 150ml bottles of the brand’s Fruitamins and Immune Support juices and four new 150ml single serve pure juice flavours including Immune Support orange, mango & persimmon, and apple, cherry & raspberry blended with Vitamin C and zinc to help support the immune system.

With other players in the sector reporting success with similar functional products, such efforts could help, although more needs to be done to counter the hammering fruit juice is getting from the health lobby at present. To this end, Tropicana has joined forces with Innocent, the British Fruit Juice Association and others, to commission research with the hope of highlighting the nutritional benefits of juice & smoothies.