The owners of Dragon Soop have handed themselves a dividend of £4.3m after the drinks brand toasted a rise in profit. Corinthian Brands, which is based in Knaresbrook and is owned by Paul Burton and John Hibberd, posted profit of just under £5m for 2025, a rise of 2.3 per
Simon Hunt
Monday 04 May 2026 12:49 pm | Updated: Monday 04 May 2026 12:50 pm
The owners of Dragon Soop have handed themselves a dividend of £4.3m after the drinks brand toasted a rise in profit.
Corinthian Brands, which is based in Knaresbrook and is owned by Paul Burton and John Hibberd, posted profit of just under £5m for 2025, a rise of 2.3 per cent on the previous year.
The firm, which produces a range of high-alcohol, high-caffeine drinks under the Dragon Soop brand, delivered turnover of £23.2m for the year, a dip of 1.5 per cent on 2024.
“A review of the product portfolio led to the discontinuation of underperforming lines during the prior year. As a result, turnover has fallen compared with 2024, although the gross profit margin has improved,” the firm said in a statement.
“The company plans to broaden its profit base and expand its product range in 2026.”
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Dragon Soop has previously faced criticism over the high levels of alcohol and caffeine contained in its fruit-flavoured drinks.
A 500ml can of Dragon Soop – which retails at £3.49 – contains around the same alcoholic content as two pints of ale and as much caffeine as two cups of coffee.
The drink’s popularity among teenagers and students in Scotland and the north of England has sparked reports it is associated with rising youth violence.
According to the Independent, police in Newcastle said that an intelligence-gathering operation “discovered that youths were obtaining their alcohol in the form of “Dragon Soop” from various off-licences within the city.
“Their behaviour would deteriorate during the evening as they became more intoxicated and more violent incidents were reported by members of the public,” police said.
Sergeant Emma Dixon identified “several arrests of young people for serious assaults on members of the public” in the city centre in which “all were drunk at the time and could not remember what they had done until they were shown the CCTV.”
Dragon Soop, which is available in cherry, raspberry and pineapple flavours, among others, is often sold in independent off licences and is also available online from Tesco.
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