Britvic, the soft drinks maker and distributor, has this morning reported volumes rises in its Great Britain division against a UK soft drinks market down 0.8%.
The group, which makes a range of carbonated and still drinks, said that in spite of the category being dragged down by the impact of the consumer slowdown and second consecutive year of poor summer weather, ‘Britvic GB’ had grown still volumes 8.1% and carbonates volumes by 4.2%.
Unveiling results for the year to 28 September, chief executive Paul Moody said: “These strong results showed resilience and were delivered despite repeated poor summer weather ad tougher trading conditions, combined with the toughest raw material and energy cost pricing environment for many years.”
The company said it had seen consumers pursue value items in the grocery segment at the expense of premium products.
It said people were switching from premium items in the cola and juice categories, and moving away from expensive price-point categories such as smoothies and pure juice, with a resurgence in squash sales.
Britvic also said the move out of carbonates in 2006 was countered in 2008 by “a gradual return”, with consumers taking a “rational approach to their soft drinks reportoire”.
The ‘stills’ category declined by 2.7%, with still water particularly impacted by the weather, the downturn and the environmental and sustainability debate. Dairy and smoothie drinks also suffered although ambient juice drinks and sports drinks grew volume.
Against a cola market up 3.7%, Pepsi grew volumes 8.1%.
The group’s five other core brands alongside Pepsi are 7Up, Robinsons squash, Tango, Fruit Shoot and J20. It said its two major new innovation launches – Gatorade and Drench – had both performed “extremely well”.
Operating profits before exceptional items were up 20.9% to £96.7m, with operating margins down 0.8% due to the diluting effect of the full 52-week contribution of Britvic Ireland, the business acquired from C&C Group.
However its GB and international operating profit was up 7.6% to £82m with operating margin up to 11.3%, up 30 basis points.
Pre-exceptional profits after tax for the period was £53m, up 20.5%, on sales up 29.3% to £926.5m. Excluding sales from Ireland, revenues grew 4.8% to £725.8m.
