Vermont Pure Bottling Operation Acquired by Massachusetts Company

Vermont Pure Holdings, Ltd., sold its retail bottling operation to Macropack Bottled Water, of Natick, Mass. In the transaction, Micropak acquired Vermont Pure's spring sources in Randolph and the Hidden Springs trademark and will immediately assume responsibility to serve Vermont Pure's private label retail customers, the companies said.

Vermont Pure will continue to distribute water under its own brand throughout its home and office distribution area. Macropack will market single-serve bottles of water under the Vermont Pure name.

The sale will provide the capital and attention to expand its home and office delivery business, the company said. "This is one of a series of steps Vermont Pure is taking to strengthen and expand our core home and office delivery business," said Tim Fallon, chairman and CEO of Vermont Pure Holdings.

The company plans to move its 5-gallon home and office bottling operation to another location in Vermont. Fallon said the company would continue to acquire independent home and office distributors within its marketing territory. That segment of the business brought in revenues of $49.9 million and operating profit of $7 million in the year ending Oct. 31, 2003.

The retail segment, which was sold to Micropack, had sales of $22.4 million and an operating loss of $592,000 while the gallon segment had sales of $4 million and an operating profit of $212,000.

Source: Boston.com