Harrogate Spring Water saw sales return to almost pre-pandemic levels last year but still made a loss.

The company, which is owned by French multinational Danone, last week published its latest annual financial report covering the period from December 2020 to December 2021.

During this period, the company reported a turnover of £23m and a gross profit of £6.9m.

However, despite the improved sales figures for 2021, the company still made a loss of £1.3m after costs, expenses and tax.

Bouncing back

The healthy sales figures reflect how the bottled drinking water firm bounced back after its previous report, which covered March 2020 until December 2020, and saw revenue fall sharply.

The decline in 2020 was mainly due to hotels and restaurants that serve its water being closed due to covid.

Turnover in 2021 returned close to its pre-covid figures for 2019/20, when it recorded a turnover of £26.2m in the 12-month period ending March 31 2020.

Harrogate Spring Water declined to make a comment on the accounts.

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The Pinewoods expansion

Meanwhile, Harrogate Spring Water is preparing to submit a new planning application to expand its bottling plant in the Pinewoods.

The company was granted outline planning permission to expand to the west of its existing site in 2016, which meant the principle of development had been established but the details had not been agreed.

The reserved matters application provoked a major backlash due to the loss of trees at Rotary Wood. In January 2021, councillors on the planning committee voted overwhelmingly to reject it— against the wishes of council officers who had recommended approval.

The firm held a consultation on plans for its Rotary Wood site this summer and said it would now provide a further update “in the coming weeks”.