Britvic reports profit despite poor Pepsi sales

Britvic has posted a 13.2% rise in first-half profit to 17.2m, despite tough trading conditions in 2007. But sales of Pepsi took a hit last year due poor on-trade sales and heavy promotional activity from its rivals.

Britvic has posted a 13.2% rise in first-half profit to £17.2m, despite tough trading conditions in 2007. But sales of Pepsi took a hit last year due poor on-trade sales and heavy promotional activity from its rivals.

The company, which is the UK bottler and distributor for PepsiCo brands Pepsi, 7Up and Gatorade, reported a loss of volume share with Pepsi reporting volume growth of 1.8% compared to 4% growth in the cola market overall.

It says that it has regained ground over the past 12 weeks, with volume share rising to 8.2%, outperforming the market growth of 3.1%.

Britvic GB and International grew revenue by 1.9% to £355.2m in the 28 weeks to April 13. The expansion of its Robinsons and Fruit Shoot brands helped drive Britvic International’s revenue growth up 17.6%.

Paul Moody, Britvic chief executive, says: “This is a positive result given the challenging trading environment in the licensed on-premise market in particular and also in take home where the market is still recovering from the effects of last year’s poor summer.”

The company adds that it is expecting to see improved performance in on-trade sales for the second half of the year after the launches of Pepsi Xtra Cold and Pepsi Raw.

In April, it launched its new “Max Kicks” television ad featuring a host of football stars including David Beckham and Britvic claims early indications of market and category impact are positive.

Its key product launches this year included Pepsi Raw and Gatorade in the take home market.