Capri-Sun is suing its UK manufacturer for more than £2m for failing to make enough of the juice drink to fulfil supermarket orders, court documents show.
The company’s European and British arms filed a claim against Princes Group earlier this year over allegations that it had breached two contracts agreed in 2024, causing Capri-Sun “loss and damage”.
Capri-Sun claims that over a five-month period, Princes has failed to produce substantial quantities of products required under pre-existing contracts.
Noel Casey KC, for Capri-Sun, said in court documents: “Consequently, the claimants have been unable to fulfil, in whole or in part, orders received from a significant number of retailers including but not limited to Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Iceland, Ocado, Morrisons, Farmfoods, Co-op and Amazon.
“This led to shortages of Capri-Sun products at numerous retailers, with certain resellers running out of Capri-Sun products completely.
“During this period, the claimants were unable to fulfil orders for several hundred thousand cases.
“The claimants estimate their lost revenue from this period to be approximately £2,676,778.18 and their lost profits to be approximately £847,202.11.”
In court documents seen by the Press Association, lawyers for Capri-Sun LAO said Princes had committed several breaches of the agreements, including through a “unilateral suspension of production and delivery” in January this year.
Princes, which is based in Liverpool and is yet to file a defence to the claim, has said it “does not accept the claims as presented”.
Mr Casey said a warehousing and distribution agreement was reached in January 2024, and a co-manufacturing agreement two months later. But in January 2026, Princes suspended production and delivery of Capri-Sun products until Capri-Sun paid £2.583m.
While production later restarted, Princes said last month that it would stop production again, it was claimed.
Production ‘fell short by millions of cases’
Capri-Sun is seeking damages, an injunction requiring Princes to continue manufacturing, and a declaration that the £2.6m sum was not owed.
Mr Casey said that product lines manufactured by Princes did not meet efficiency targets, meaning it “has been unable to produce the quantities of Capri-Sun products required”.
This meant Princes produced around 1.3 million fewer cases than required in 2024 and 2025, with a shortfall of around 800,000 expected this year, the barrister added.
Capri-Sun also claims that Princes failed to “properly safeguard and account for” products, meaning it had to write off stock worth around £85,000, and had invoiced sums which were not owed to it.
It further alleges that Princes manufactured “defective and/or incorrectly labelled products”, leading it to issue a product recall last month as some batches sold in shops across Ireland and Northern Ireland had been incorrectly labelled as containing no sugar.
A Princes Group spokesman said: “Princes Group does not accept the claims as presented and intends to defend the proceedings.
“As the matter is now before the court, it would not be appropriate to comment on the individual allegations or potential further legal steps.
“Princes will set out its position through the appropriate legal process.”