Britvic, the soft drinks maker, has spoken of the ongoing challenges in the UK on-trade market.
The group, led by Paul Moody, yesterday posted full-year results revealing a 21.5% rise in pre-tax profits to £104.6m on sales up 14.6% to £1,121.1m.
It said the performance was partly driven by it UK business, with both its stills and carbonate drinks in strong volume growth – up 3.5% and 10.2% respectively.
However, the group said that it was not immune from the tough climate in the on-trade market. It said: “The GB pub and club soft drinks market faced continuing challenges in the year, with a quarterly and MAT (to July) volume decline of 5.0%.
“The football World Cup failed to deliver a favourable impact, and the uncertain consumer environment looks set to continue within this channel into 2011.“
Britvic, which is the largest supplier of still soft drinks in Great Britain and the number two supplier of branded carbonated soft drinks, said revenues from still drinks were up 3.6% to £362.7m. Revenues from carbonates rose 12.4% to £468.4m
