Britvic Revenues Up 31.2%

30/01/08 Britvic has reported total revenues of £214.0m for the 12 weeks to 23rd December 2007, an increase of 31.2% on the prior year. This includes a first time contribution from Britvic Ireland of £49.3m for the 3 months to 31st December 2007. GB and international revenues grew by 1.1% during the period, representing stills growth of 1.2%, carbonates growth of 0.4% and Britvic International growth of 12.0%.

GB pricing levels were maintained in the period with revenue growth driven mainly by volume. The out-performance of the GB stills category (market down 1.7%) reflects continued share gains from the Robinsons brand, and whilst our core carbonate brands performed in line with expectations, our shortfall against the market growth of the category (market up 2.5%) is largely explained by the strong volume performance of the functional category where Britvic currently has no real presence.

The company said that trading conditions highlighted in its November 29th statement have continued, with licensed on-premise soft drink market volumes down 5% in the quarter to November as the impact of the smoking ban and the slowdown in consumer spending continue. However, the take-home market has shown some recovery during the period with volumes up 0.3%, driven by the growth of carbonates. Whilst stills market volumes are down, the rate of decline in the category has fallen consistently over recent months which is in line with our expectations highlighted back in November, and Britvic continues to anticipate a return to growth in due course.

Britvic's International business has again shown strong growth driven by solid trading of Fruit Shoot in the Netherlands and continued distribution gains for Robinsons squash in Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.

Britvic Ireland’s revenue grew 5.6% in sterling terms for the quarter to the end of December, benefiting from exchange rate movements. Underlying euro revenues were marginally down by 0.8% based on flat volumes, with the on-premise market showing a low-single digit decline in the quarter to November. Our performance within the take-home market was strong, driven by the continued growth of our Miwadi and Ballygowan brands. The integration of Britvic Ireland and the delivery of the forecast €14m synergies remains on track, illustrated by the recently-announced proposal to close the company’s Cork factory and consolidate production to a large scale, manufacturing centre by investing €7.6 million in the Dublin plant.

Despite current trading conditions and pressure from rising input costs experienced in the first quarter, the continued strong focus on cost control has maintained the company’s operating margins compared to the same period last year. With an expected return to growth in the near term for the stills category, plus this year’s innovation programme to be launched soon, Britvic said it remains confident about the delivery of market expectations for the year.