Britvic to meet market expectations

SOFT drinks group Britvic, which bought C&C’s soft drinks division in 2007, said earnings will meet market expectations for the full year.

It warned, however, that pub conditions remain difficult for the group in its key British and Irish markets.

Britvic is Britain’s second-biggest soft drinks maker after Coca-Cola, and its reported sales rose 3.7% in the 40 weeks to 6 July.

Growth was generated by solid good sales of still drinks such as Robinsons and Fruit Shoot.

Over the period, the Irish business contributed £147.2 million (€187m) of the group’s total sales of £690m, which were up more than 29% on the period.

C&C’s product range, which includes Ballygowan, accounted for the bulk of the group’s Irish sales. Prior to last year’s buyout of the C&C soft drinks range, Britvic had just a nominal presence in the Irish market.

At the time, it was reported the group paid C&C a total of €170m for its non-alcoholic product range.

The company said revenues in Ireland grew 6.1% in sterling terms in the nine-month period, as the company benefited from exchange rate movements, due to the stronger euro.

However, underlying euro sales were down 5.2% with volumes down by 2.9% as consumers, worried by the economic slowdown, spent less on discretionary items and made fewer trips to the pub. Conditions here were described as “markedly more challenging” in the last three months of the period under review, the group said.

The weaker conditions resulted in a decline in both the pub and off-licence markets, it said.

Despite the dip in sales, the group’s Irish operations continued to maintain share in all of its key categories.

The merger also delivered the synergies within Ireland the group said it expected to achieve at the time of the acquisition.

Britvic said it had outperformed the overall stills market in a number of key categories in the 40-week period.