Food Revolution pivots into hand sanitiser production, shares surge 49%

With a bottling production plant already in operation, food processing company Food Revolution Group (ASX: FOD) has received enough interest in hand sanitiser to quickly commission a new bottling line to fill a global supply gap in the sanitary product. 

Whilst the company does not have a line of sanitary products, its Melbourne plant has the capacity to produce and bottle numerous products including gels, powders and oils. Commissioning of the new line is already underway as customers in China seek to contain the coronavirus outbreak. 

Within its bottling line, Food Revolution has the capacity to fill bottles up to 4 litres with the machine confirmed as suitable for alcohol-based hand sanitiser. It will be the same multi-purpose machine which the company also uses for bottling canola oil. 

The new line of sanitary products will be produced by Food Revolution under their new ‘Sanicare’ brand, with production expected to commence before the end of February and be distributed by Careline Australia, FOD’s distribution partner. 

“The versatility of FOD’s upgraded plant with clean room and bottling capacity to meet the substantial demands of the Chinese market is evidenced by these developments and vindicates the company’s decision to invest in the new clean room factory to provide constant supply of high quality Australian products to the Chinese market,” said Food Revolution Chairman, Dr Norman Li. 

The majority of the new Sanicare products will be sent directly to China where there is unprecedented demand for hand sanitiser but Food Revolution will look to continue sanitiser production complementary to their established food products. 

To facilitate the additional production, two more machines have been built in China for Food Revolution’s new clean room factory which will enable powder sachet packaging and gel sachet packaging. 

Following news of the new Sanicare production line, shares in Food Revolution rocketed to an intra-day high of $0.085, a rise of 49% on the previous day’s close of $0.057.