UK: Britvic upbeat on FY results, despite Irish struggles

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 15 October 2009

Britvic has said it is likely to hit its profits targets for its latest fiscal full-year, as sales in the period registered a slight rise.

The UK-based soft drinks company said in a trading update today (15 October) that group sales for the 12 months to the end of September climbed by 5.6% year-on-year to GBP978.8m (US$1.59bn). In its home market, CSD sales climbed by 11%, with the stills portfolio delivering a 5.7% increase.

Volumes for the 12 months were up by 3.9%, with volumes from Britvic's international division, which increased by 10.3%, balancing out a 10.7% slide in Ireland.

In Britvic's fourth quarter, sales rose by 4.2% to GBP246.5m, with Ireland, most noticeably, producing a 13.9% drop in volumes for the period.

The "extremely challenging macro-economic environment" in Ireland for soft drink shows "no indication of a return to growth in the short term", Britvic warned.

"The combination of top-line growth and close management of costs mean that we will meet our recently-increased expectations for 2009," said company chief executive Paul Moody.

"Despite the poor visibility of future market performance, we remain fully confident at this early stage that we have the momentum, brands and in-market execution to deliver another strong set of results for the year ahead."

Sectors: Soft drinks, Water