Britvic H1 revenue up 1.7%

Drinks group Britvic today announced group revenue of £641.1m (€797.9m) for the first half of the financial year, a rise of 1.7% on the previous year, saying it was on track to deliver full-year performance in line with expectations.

The company however said that EBITA was down 6.9% to £41.9m (€52.1m) in the 28 weeks to April 15.

EBITA margin was down 60 basis points due to the impact of 2011 higher raw material costs before the implementation of a 2012 price increase, the company said.

Britvic announced an interim dividend per share of 5.3p, up by 3.9%.

"Despite the challenging economic environment, Britvic has delivered a robust performance and made encouraging progress on key initiatives," Chief Executive Paul Moody said.

"Revenues increased for the group, GB, International and France, delivering improved cash flow, enabling a reduction in debt and a proposed further increase in the interim dividend.

"Although the GB soft drinks market in April and early May has been adversely impacted by the poor weather, Britvic has continued to grow market share and with the key summer months ahead, we currently, remain comfortable with delivering the full year performance in line with our expectations.”