Britvic fears Irish profits will fail to meet expectations

BRITVIC, the British soft drinks manufacturer, has said that operating profits in its Irish division, for its current financial year, will fail to meet previous expectations.

Britvic bought the soft drinks arm of Bulmers/Magners owner, C&C Group for €250 million in May last year. This gave the British business control over some of the Irish drinks industry’s most iconic brands — including Club Orange, Ballygowan water, Mi-Wadi and Cidona.

In a trading update, Britvic said that it expected operating profits in the Irish business to come in below the previous expectations of between €19m and €24m, due mainly to falling consumer sentiment and the downturn in the Irish economy.