Fizzy Britvic still on track to meet full-year expectations

SOFT drinks maker Britvic reported a 13.8 per cent rise in UK sales of fizzy drinks, but suffered a 0.7 per cent drop for still drinks during its third quarter.

• Legend John McEnroe was on hand this year to promote another Wimbledon stalwart, Robinsons, which was celebrating 75 years at the championships. Picture: Getty Images

Overall group revenues increased by 16.2 per cent to 289.5 million, although the maker of Tango and Robinsons fruit juice said it remained cautious over consumer sentiment.

Chief executive Paul Moody said he was "confident" of meeting full-year City expectations.

Moody said that Britvic France - the newly-created division comprising Fruit Entreprises, which Britvic took over in May - contributed revenue of 23.2m in June, in line with expectations. As well as making its own products, such as Fruit Shoot and J2O fruit juices, Britvic is the exclusive producer and distributor for the Pepsi and 7UP brands in the UK and Ireland.

Jonathan Cook, an analyst at RBS Equities, noted that Pepsi had grown its market share, despite rival Coca-Cola carrying out a large amount of marketing activities during the World Cup in South Africa.

Pepsi's summer promotions have included selling its brands in 600ml bottles instead of 500ml.

Cook said: "Britvic has performed exceptionally well in the carbonated market.

However, comparatives will get tougher and, therefore, a level of market out-performance is unlikely to continue indefinitely."

Britvic also highlighted the success of its football-based Pepsi "dream team" campaign.

The company said its still products - such as J2O - had faced a "challenging" market in the on-trade "where food-led outlets showed little benefit from World Cup activities.".