Haines Watts working with Trederwen Springs bottled water

“People often think it’s like discovering a gold mine, but the reality is that we have invested a lot of personal wealth to get the business up and running,” David explains. “There were extensive up-front costs, from water testing to building production facilities. It costs £15,000 a month just to maintain our existing equipment. And, while the water itself tastes great, this is an industry with low profit margins and lots of competition. We realised early on that we had to diversify.”

Haines Watts helped Trederwen Springs to develop its accounting systems, processes and controls, ensuring the timely production of a credible reporting structure for finances. This system now has the capacity to keep pace with innovations such as adding fruit flavours to the spring water, which transformed the business’s profit margins, as it allowed Trederwen Springs to charge more per bottle (and gave greater visibility with premium outlets).

“We’ve also invested heavily in developing bespoke machinery that allows us to blow our own bottles onsite,” David says. “This is important because we’re less dependent on premade containers being delivered. We’ve been able to take 1,000 lorries a year off the road and are now more responsive to fluctuating demand. We don’t have the space to stockpile, so making our own bottles offered a novel solution and means we can better meet the needs of our customers.”

This expansion has meant Trederwen Springs needed to continue attracting a high-quality workforce, as well as offering incentives to key employees. Haines Watts worked to provide such options, ensuring Trederwen put its best foot forward with every new step.

Responsiveness is an important part of the brothers’ strategy for achieving 20% growth over the next year. “We are working towards becoming accredited by the British Retail Consortium, which is an essential global standard to achieve if you want to find your product on the shelves of stores like Waitrose,” he adds.

Discussions continue about the brand’s move into markets such as  Nigeria, Libya, the Middle East and Norway. “Our first foray into Africa proved how valuable it is to know your market,” David laughs, explaining that the tendency to cool drinks in large tanks of water proved fatal for the paper labelling they used at the time.

Today, with support from the Welsh Development Agency – and with new labels – the business is ready for its next venture into overseas markets.

David says development is only worthwhile if focus on quality is retained. “Our drinks taste great, which has been recognised by the industry – we received a gold award in a blind tasting by the British Bottlers’ Institute in 2016/7.”

By cutting the cost of bottling its water, and with help from Haines Watts, Trederwen hopes its investment in innovative, bespoke machinery will continue allowing the business to scale up. “We believe we’re well placed to increase our foothold in the market,” David says.