First quarter revenue up five per cent at Britvic

23rd Jan 2013 06:59

Group revenue rose 4.8 per cent to 303.2m pounds at soft-drinks manufacturer Britvic, according to an interim management statement for the first quarter trading performance.The rise was underpinned by a 5.4% increase in revenue from its British operations and a 4.3% rise in revenue in France driven by average realised prices (ARP). In the UK, carbonates performed particularly strongly with revenue growth of 9.2%, exceeding last year's growth of 5.8%. Average realised price was up 3.9% and volumes increased by 4.9% as Britvic's brands took both volume and value take-home market share. Stills revenue declined by 0.7%, adversely impacted by limited Fruit Shoot supply levels. Meanwhile, Robinsons grew its market share versus the prior year, with double concentrate performing well. The success of moving consumers from single to double concentrate was a key driver of the 6.2% ARP growth whilst volume declined by 6.4%. The return of Fruit Shoot to market is in line with our plan with production levels now back to previous historical levels.The company also announced that it had reached an agreement with PepsiCo Americas Beverages to accelerate the distribution of its Fruit Shoot product to 30 US states by summer 2013 As well, the firm received shareholder approval for its proposed merger with A.G. Barr plc and said that the expected effective date of the merger would be February 26th 2013. Paul Moody, Chief Executive Officer of Britvic, commented: "Our business units have delivered a much improved performance in the first quarter of the year resulting in group revenue growth of 4.8%. In Great Britain we have delivered strong carbonates revenue and market share growth, continued to increase Robinsons share of the squash market and are on track with the Fruit Shoot return to market plan. "The performance in both France and Ireland has been encouraging. The growth of Fruit Shoot internationally accelerates with the launch in Spain, and we will have substantially increased Fruit Shoot distribution in the US in time for the summer. The second quarter has started more slowly reflecting the continuing challenging economic and trading environment. However, overall we are confident that the business is well positioned to meet these challenges." MF