Healthy living hits fizzy drinks sales in UK

Britvic warned today that a healthy living drive in the UK was continuing to take the fizz out of its soft drinks sales.

The maker of Tango and Pepsi in the UK also blamed a cold snap and the timing of Easter for leaving sales of carbonated drinks 7.3% lower during the 24 weeks to March 19.

Its statement comes a month after shares in Britvic plunged 20% on a warning that consumers were no longer buying as many fizzy drinks because of worries about their health.

Although this trend has continued since then, Britvic flagged signs today that the speed at which sales of full-sugar drinks were falling may be stabilising.

There was better news in the still drinks market where sales of its products were 1.3% above the level of last year.

However, Britvic said it needed a recovery across the board to be able to meet current market expectations for the current year.

Winter is a quieter trading period for the company and it was confident of a revival once temperatures hot up.

Britvic said: “The consumer trend towards ‘better for you’ that was evident in our performance in the eight weeks of trading post-Christmas has continued into March.

“As a consequence, we have yet to see a recovery in the total carbonates market but there are signs that the rate of decline in sales of full sugar carbonates, the most affected category, is stabilising.”

Britvic is the second-largest fizzy drinks firm in the UK behind Coca-Cola with a contract to make Pepsi, as well as Robinsons and Tango.