A bottling company on the Shropshire-Wales border has reclaimed more than £400,000 in tax following successful research and development tax claims.
Radnor Hills Mineral Water Company received a total of £412,000 thanks to help from R&D Tax Claims, with R&D tax refunds spanning a four-year period.
Radnor Hills, which is based at Knighton, began as a small company packing cuplets for airlines but today has grown into a company bottling a diverse range of mineral water, flavoured spring water, sparkling premium pressés, fruit juices and school compliant drinks.
Last year they produced 230 million bottles - this year capacity has increased to produce 400 million.
Radnor Hills managing director William Watkins said that despite initial scepticism that they had an R&D claim, the process had been straightforward and rewarding.
"We take a unique and bespoke approach to our business, constantly evolving production lines through innovative systems and machinery.
"Soft drinks is a technical business with some very complicated processes, and the key to this claim was identifying an applicable R&D scheme within our business – establishing what was and was not eligible."
R&D Tax Claims has a proven track record in helping SMEs investing in research and development to claim back extra tax relief on every pound spent in developing new products or introducing new and improved processes.
Mark Evans, managing director of R&D Tax Claims, said: "One of the major obstacles I face day to day is that companies believe the scheme is too good to be true.
"But claiming back R&D tax from HMRC is a government backed initiative that was introduced to actively encourage SMEs to claim back money – money that can be reinvested to support and grow those businesses."
The R&D claims submitted on behalf of Radnor Hills were technical ongoing projects that included the development of a hot filling process for fragile juices, a specialised cooling and re-cycling system, clean in place (CIP) system development and integration software development.
Mark said: "Radnor Hills has to use innovative solutions to grow the business and develop new products and processes in a market dominated by some very large corporations with significant resources. A lot of time is spent by the Radnor management team delivering new ideas and concepts that improve both productivity and quality."
"We pay a lot of tax and this is a legitimate tax break. We have been able to reinvest the £412,000 back into the business. There must be so many businesses across the UK that are just not taking advantage of R&D claims."
Picture: Radnor Hills managing director William Watkins with Mark Evans, managing director of R&D Tax Claims
