Britvic to add Lipton Iced Tea to portfolio

Britvic is extending its partnership with PepsiCo, with plans to take on the manufacturing, distribution and marketing of Lipton Iced Tea. The news comes as Britvic reported a 14% rise in pre-tax profits in the year to September 28.

It says it has enjoyed strong volume and value growth in Great Britain from its Robinsons and Fruit Shoot juice brands. Sales for Pepsi, which Britvic has the rights to manufacture and distribute in the UK and Ireland, also performed well.

The drinks company recorded profit of £70.1m, compared to £61.3m a year ago. It claims that sales have also been boosted by Gatorade, Drench and the launch of Pepsi Raw.

Britvic has broadened its relationship with PepsiCo this year adding V Water and Gatorade to its portfolio.

It is not known when Britvic will officially take on Lipton Iced Tea which is a joint venture between Unilever and PepsiCo, and is currently handled by the former.

The cold-hot drinks category is still relatively small in the UK, but has enjoyed 43% volume growth in Europe since 2001, according to Britvic.

Chief executive Paul Moody says: “Conditions in the soft drink market continue to be tough at the beginning of our new financial year, and given the adverse macro environment, market visibility beyond the short term remains limited.

“However, we are reassured with our performance since the year end, anchored on our resilient brand presence, tenacious cost management and our well-developed innovation and marketing strategies.”

This week, Britvic launched a campaign to promote Tango. The “Save Tango” campaign, created by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, will aim to raise public awareness of the threat that the fruit carbonates brand is facing because of the nation’s over-obsession with health and increasingly “do-gooder” attitude.