Britvic profits soft as Irish brands hit

First-quarter revenues at Britvic Ireland fell by 10%, on a year-on-year basis, worse than market expectations. Ireland has, for some time, been the weak link within the soft drinks group’s portfolio.

Analysts had anticipated Irish revenue falls of 5% to 9% for the three-month period up to the end of January. According to Britvic — whose group-wide sales grew by 2.5%, year-on-year, during the quarter — the Irish business held its value share of the take-home market, but the real damage was done in the area of the third party alcohol brands (such as WKD, Budweiser, Heineken and Bulmers cider) which it distributes, via its licensed wholesale business.

The first quarter woes follow a tough 2011 for Britvic’s Irish operations. During the group’s last financial year — the 12 months to the end of October — revenues at Britvic Ireland fell by nearly 10%, to €190m. In the fourth quarter, alone, revenues at the division fell by over 8% on a like-for-like basis. Irish consumers drank around 18 million litres less of Britvic-owned products — including Ballygowan water and 7-Up (which it distributes here) — than in the previous year.

In 2007, Britvic acquired the soft drinks arm of C&C for €249m. Last year, it purchased the Northern-based drinks wholesaler, Quinn’s of Cookstown&. Britvic’s first quarter group-wide sales increase was boosted by continued double-digit growth in France (revenues up by nearly 13%, year-on-year) and a 2.8% like-for-like rise in its core market of Britain.