Britvic sales progress despite dismal weather

Soft drinks firm Britvic served up a 20 per cent increase in first half profit and said despite sales being adversely affected by wetter than usual weather in April and early May, it remains confident of meeting full year targets.

Group revenue rose 1.7% to £641.1m for the 28 weeks ended 15 April 2012. Pre-tax profit for the period rose to £24.1m from £20.1m the year before.

Group EBITA fell 6.9% to £41.9m while EBITA margin fell on the back of higher raw material costs before the implementation of 2012 price increase.

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GB revenue growth rose 2.4%, led by a 6.7% rise in carbonates while Britvic France revenue was up 6.4%, led by strong price growth of 11.5%.

International sales delivered double-digit revenue growth, driven by US Fruit Shoot and expansion into new states, including Texas. However Britvic Ireland continued to deteriorate. Britvic said further decisive action has been taken on costs to mitigate declining top line.

Commenting on the group's performance chief executive Paul Moody said, "Despite the challenging economic environment, Britvic has delivered a robust performance and made encouraging progress on key initiatives. Revenues increased for the group, GB, International and France, delivering improved cash flow, enabling a reduction in debt and a proposed further increase in the interim dividend."

"Although the GB soft drinks market in April and early May has been adversely impacted by the poor weather, Britvic has continued to grow market share and with the key summer months ahead, we currently, remain comfortable with delivering the full year performance in line with our expectations."

An interim dividend of 5.3p has been offered, up by 3.9%.

Britvic's pension deficit reduced to £16.7m in April from £45.1m the same time last year after changes to the Britvic Ireland Defined Benefit Pension Plan.

CJ