Britvic toasts revenue rise, ramps up US expansion

26th Nov 2013 07:07

- Full-year revenue rise- Expands Fruitshoot in the US - Eyes improved trading despite challenging consumer environmentSoft drinks maker Britvic delivered improved full-year revenue as it continues to push through cost saving initiatives and as it increases its Fruit Shoot brand in the US.The group, which sells Robinsons, Fruit Shoot, Tango and J2O, said pre-tax profit rose 28.1% to £108.1m for the 52 weeks ended September 29th while revenue grew 4.4% to £1.3bn, after a hotter than usual summer boosted fourth quarter sales. Adjusted earnings per share rose to 35.2p for the period from 27.2p previously. Britvic, which seems to be going from strength to strength since the proposed merger with AG Barr was blocked by the Competition Commission, said it is confident of delivering earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the range of £148m to £156m for the full year. The group confirmed that it had signed a new 15-year bottling agreement with PepsiCo Americas Beverages for increased manufacturing and distribution in the US. As a result, Fruit Shoot will be rolled out to 41 states during 2014, up from the current 32 states.Britvic also said it remains on-track to deliver £30m of cost savings each year by 2016, £10m of which will be invested into the international growth opportunities.Underlining its confidence in future trading, the full year dividend has been increased 4.0% to 18.4p per share. "While we anticipate that the consumer environment will remain challenging in 2014, trading in the new financial year is slightly ahead of a strong first quarter performance last year," the group said in a company statement. CJ