General Industry

Mixed Year For Britvic

By Publications Checkout
Mixed Year For Britvic

Preliminary financial results for Britvic plc for the year ending 30 September 2012 have revealed varying fortunes. The soft drinks manufacturer announced a 19 per cent fall in annual profit, which it has blamed on a costly recall of its Fruit Shoot children’s drink, as well as on a cold, wet summer across most of its markets.Although acknowledging the downturn, Britvic chief executive Paul Moody defended the company’s overall performance during the year. “Britvic has delivered some notable successes in the last twelve months. Our GB carbonates brands, and Pepsi in particular, significantly outperformed the market in this Olympic year, Robinsons squash returned to its two year historic high share of the market, our syrups brands in France increased volume and value share, and the expansion of our US franchise business developed in line with our stated plan. In other respects, this has been a difficult year for the group and the progress that we made was more than offset by the impact of the Fruit Shoot product recall. The Fruit Shoot product recall was regrettable, but necessary in order to protect the safety of our consumers. The business responded quickly and efficiently to manage the situation and refocused our priorities as required over the balance of the year.”In November, Britvic agreed on the terms of a merger with soft drink producer A.G. Barr to create Barr Britvic Soft Drinks, which will be one of Europe’s biggest soft drinks companies.

ADVERTISEMENT