Britvic profits up but Irish market in decline

Drinks group Britvic has reported pre-tax profits of £105.1m (€123m) for the 12 months to end September, up 0.5% from the previous year.

However while total group revenue rose 15% to just under £1.3bn, the company said poor results in the Irish market were constraining overall group growth.

Britvic Ireland revenues in the period were down by 9.6% on a constant exchange rate basis with volumes down by 8.0%.

"Britvic Ireland continues to face very challenging macro economic conditions and combined with disappointing weather has led to the total soft drinks market continuing to decline," the company said.

Britvic, which includes in its portfolio brands such as Ballygowan, 7Up, Club and MiWadi, said the soft drinks market in Ireland has continued to decline with take-home volume down by 2.2%. The pub and club channel has been severely impacted with volume down 8.7%.

“Britvic has delivered a robust set of results, despite the particularly challenging economic backdrop in 2011," said CEO Paul Moody.

"Our GB, France and International business units have each produced revenue and volume growth this year, leading to an increase in total group revenue of almost 15%."

The board is proposing a final dividend per share of 12.6p bringing the full year dividend per share to 17.7p, an increase of 6.0% on the prior year.

The company also announced what it called three major new agreements for the Fruit Shoot brand in the United States.

"The political, financial and social environment in which we operate will remain challenging, but we are confident in our ability to compete strongly and to deliver another solid set of results for the year ahead, in line with our expectations," Moody added.