Revenue up at Britvic Ireland despite shortage of fizz
BRITVIC’S Irish arm has seen its revenue grow 11pc yearon-year in the three months to July 8.
The performance was driven by the exceptionally warm weather, the company said in a trading update yesterday.
On the matter of the new sugary drinks levy, CEO Simon Litherland said that the prolonged period of unusually warm weather, coupled with the carbon dioxide shortage made it difficult to gauge its impact on the company’s performance.
“We anticipate having a more informed view of the impact at the end of the year,” he said.
Overall, it reported thirdquarter revenue of £366.9m (€411m) for the period, an increase of 3.4pc on the previous year.
However, excluding the soft drinks industry levy, revenue decreased by 0.6pc in the threemonth period, as the drinks industry as a whole battled a shortage of carbon dioxide in the UK and Ireland.
The impact of the carbon dioxide shortage meant that the group – whose brands include Club Orange and Pepsi Max – had to reduce the promotional activity of fizzy drinks during the warm weather, and reallocate some of its secondary feature space to stills drinks such as water.
Year-to-date reported revenue at the group increased 4.2pc, or 2.8pc excluding the soft drinks industry levy in the UK, to £1.1bn (€1.2bn).
“Britvic has delivered a strong underlying performance in the third quarter,” said Mr Litherland.
“Whilst the industry-wide shortage of carbon dioxide held back our ability to fully capitalise on the exceptional weather in Britain and Ireland, we leveraged the breadth and strength of our portfolio to moderate the impact. Conse- quently, we remain confident of achieving market expectations for the full year.”
Britvic said that the supply of carbon dioxide had now normalised, enabling the group to start rebuilding stock levels and gradually reintroduce promotions.
In Britain, revenue increased 8pc, or 1.9pc excluding the soft drinks industry levy, this was driven by its still drinks range, which jumped 11.7pc, again excluding the sugar levy.
Meanwhile in France the company’s revenue declined 15pc year-on-year in the three months to July 8, which it said reflected both a strong comparative last year, as well as poor weather in France in June this year.
‘It has delivered a strong underlying performance in the third quarter’