Ballygowan wins water fight as new supplier to Mcdonald’s

BRITVIC- OWNED Ballygowan has edged out Nestle’s Vittel as the sole supplier of bottled water to Mcdonald’s 81 restaurants in Ireland. Mcdonald’s sells more than 1.25 million bottles of water at its Irish outlets every year.

Adrian Crean, managing director of Mcdonald’s Ireland, said the company was committed to buying Irish produce wherever it can. “The switch to Ballygowan natural mineral water now means that all the beef, milk, cheese, eggs and water sold in our restaurants is 100pc Irish,” he added.

UK- based Britvic acquired Ballygowan in 2007 when Bulmers maker C& C sold its softdrinks unit to the company for € 250m.

The sale also included a clutch of well- known Irish brands such as Miwadi and Club. Britvic has since written € 120m off the value of the Irish business.

In January, Britvic insisted it was committed to the Irish market despite suffering a steep decline in sales in Ireland.

In the first quarter of its financial year, revenue at its Irish business fell 10pc to £ 37.8m (€ 46.9m) even though sales volumes had fallen just 0.2pc. That highlighted the intense margin pressure Britvic is operating under in Ireland.

Britvic blamed half of the sales decline on the thirdparty brands, largely alcohol, which the company distributes through the licensed wholesale business where the “on- tooff trade shift was especially marked”.

It has been forced to lay off workers here and cut wages.

Mcdonald’s Ireland generated profits of € 11.1m in 2010, according to the latest set of publicly available accounts for the business.

It generates revenue from its 12 company- owned outlets and franchising activities.

At the announcement in Gulliver’s Retail Park ( above), were some of Ireland’s Olympic hopefuls from the DCU Sports Academy, which is sponsored by Mcdonald’s Ireland: from left, Brona Furlong, Joe Warne, Mark English and Marco Pons.