Monday 18 April 2016

Sweet deal for investors as Haughton Honey launches crowdfunding bid

Premium honey brand Haughton Honey has launched an £80,000 crowdfunding investment campaign to support the next stage in the company’s growth.
The firm hopes to attract additional investors so that it can recruit more bee farmers to help satisfy the increasing demand for its pure, raw honey.
Since launching in 2014, Cheshire-based Haughton Honey has steadily expanded and recently began supplying the fine food retailer Booths.
Now it hopes to move onto the next stage of growth by attracting investors via crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube, in return for shares in the business.
Haughton Honey founder Crispin Reeves said: “The honey market alone within the UK is worth £119.5m per annum, with healthy annual growth.
“Forget spreading the love. Loving the spread is more accurate at the moment. UK sales of jams, spreads and honey grew 5.9% in the year up to October 2015, with growth in honey sales alone between 2014 and 2015 increasing by £9.8m year-on-year.
Since we began trading, we've established more than 70 regional sales outlets across the North West and Midlands, as well as recently winning our first premium supermarket customer, Booths, who started stocking Haughton Honey at the beginning of April 2016. 
“During 2015 we packed and sold over 8,000kg of English honey and anticipate requiring more than double that amount during 2016. Now is the time to seek additional investment to support the growth of Haughton Honey so that we can take on more bee farmers, increase our honey production to satisfy our growing month-on-month demand, and hopefully achieve a listing with a second premium multiple retailer.”

The firm is also exploring export markets in a project spearheaded by Mel Reeves, Haughton Honey's second director and wife of Crispin. She is a professional linguist, fluent in both French and Spanish.
The company, based at Radmore Farm, Haughton, bottles raw honey which comes straight from the hive, is cold extracted and never pasteurised which means that it retains all of the natural enzymes and proteins that make English honey so special. It is also 100% natural and pure and features traces of dandelion, chestnut, blackberry, clover and other wildflowers.

As well as supplying consumers direct from its website and a wide range of retailers, the firm also recently began supplying to The Protein Works, a large sports nutrition brand owned by Alliance Boots, which has just launched a co-branded Cashew Nut Butter Luxe product containing Haughton Honey.

Any investment in Haughton Honey through the Crowdcube project will attract Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS) tax relief.

“Businesses like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage and the Eden Project have all raised investment on Crowdcube, the world’s first and leading investment crowdfunding platform,” said Crispin Reeves. “Investing on Crowdcube is simple. All you need to do is sign up to Crowdcube’s investor community of more than 200,000 people. Registering is free, quick and has no obligations to invest.”

A series of rewards is on offer for those who invest in Haughton Honey, including discounts, honey, bee farming experiences, and hotel, restaurant and cookery school vouchers.
To find out more about the Crowdcube investment opportunity visit www.crowdcube.com
For more information about Haughton Honey visit www.haughtonhoney.com

Press release issued by Nottingham PR company Perfect 10 PR www.perfect10pr.co.uk

Investments of this nature carry risks to your capital. The availability of any tax relief, including SEIS and EIS, depends on individual circumstances. You should seek independent tax advice.

Approved as a financial promotion by Crowdcube Capital Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 620205).