ANALYST VIEWS: DOES BRITVIC’S TRADING UPDATE QUENCH YOUR THIRST?
SIMON HALES NUMIS
Good weather conditions have helped market growth, especially in June, but importantly Britvic continues to significantly outperform the market in Great Britain. Ireland has deteriorated but the cost savings programme remains on track. Ireland remains a relatively small part of the business, but it will become increasingly part of the company. We hope that an Irish recovery will occur soon, which has been hitting all consumer facing businesses.
IAN SHACKLETON NOMURA
Despite mainly operating in the difficult Great Britain and Irish markets, the company has continued to outperform strongly in volume terms while achieving improved revenue. With PepsiCo signalling a more hands-on approach to its bottling network with proposed bids for its two US bottlers, we see increased scope for Britvic to acquire additional franchises in West Europe over the next few years, which could provide more value for shareholders.
MICHAEL VASSALLO BREWIN DOLPHIN
Results are now expected to be ahead of the top market forecasts of earnings before tax of £108.4m. This is an excellent statement and we note that the new guidance from management is based upon an average summer indicating that if August and September are hot then there could be further upgrades. The carbonated market was very strong with volumes up 10.4 per cent. The industry is clearly benefiting
from the good summer.