Britvic to cut costs as sales in decline

International soft drinks producer Britvic has hinted at further cost reduction measures at its operations in Ireland over the coming 18 months, on the back of further sales declines.

The British drinks group — which has struggled in Ireland since acquiring the soft drinks arm of C&C in 2007 — produced a mixed- bag of first half financial results yesterday.

On a group-wide basis, revenues for the 28 weeks to April 15 increased by 1.3% to £641.1m (€800.1m); but pre-tax profits fell by 10.5%, year-on-year, to £24.8m.