Britvic sales fizz higher, Ireland drags

Soft drinks maker Britvic posted a 15% increase in full year revenue and said it remains confident about trading for the year ahead despite the challenging economic backdrop.

The group, whose brands include Fruit Shoot, Pepsi, 7UP and Robinsons, said underlying pre-tax profit increased to £105.1m for the year to 2 October from £104.6m the year before. Total revenue rose 15.1% to £1.29bn for the year.

Paul Moody, chief executive commented, "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."

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Growth at its GB, France and International business units offset a weaker performance in Ireland. The Irish soft drinks market continued to decline with take-home market volume down by 2.2% while volume at the pub and club channel slumped 8.7%.

Britvic announced three significant agreements, including one with Pepsi to further distribute its Fruit Shoot brand to six US states.

A total dividend of 12.6p has been offered, bringing the full year dividend per share to 17.7p, up 6.0% on the previous year.

"This reflects the board's continuing confidence in the future prospects of the business, as well as the underlying cash generative nature of its activities," Britvic said.

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