Britvic tunes into health drive

Britvic said today the growing demand for healthy drinks such as water and fruit juice offset a downturn in sales at its struggling fizzy drinks arm last year.

Britvic said sales of still drinks such as Fruit Shoot H2O and J2O were up 5.6% in the second half of the year compared with a 1% fall in the first half.

Carbonates revenues fell 4.7% in the second half and 9% in the first half as health-conscious drinkers switched away from brands such as Tango.

It meant group revenues for the year were down 2.6% to £677.7m (€1bn) while operating profits were flat at £73.7m (€109m). Pre-tax profits were down 20% to £55.9m (€83m), broadly in line with market expectations.