Britvic and AG Barr drinks fly off the shelves
SOFT drink makers AG Barr and Britvic reported sparkling sales yesterday thanks to their marketing campaigns and hotter weather boosting demand.
Britvic, which this month walked away from merger talks with its smaller Scottish rival AG Barr despite an improved offer, said third quarter revenues rose four per cent to £316.3m.
Simon Litherland, who took over as chief executive in February, said: “While quarter three continued to be a challenging consumer environment, we maintained our focus on building brand value with a substantially stronger marketing programme, which included our annual Robinsons Wimbledon campaign and Pepsi’s sponsorship of Beyonce.”
Sales in the first few weeks of the fourth quarter have also been strong, he added.
The Robinsons and Tango maker also reiterated its confidence of posting full-year earnings before interest and tax (Ebit) at the top end of forecasts, between £125m and £131m.
Meanwhile AG Barr said it continued to grow “well ahead of the market” and expects to report a 4.9 per cent rise in revenue to £127.5m for the six months to 28 July.
In a pre-close trading statement, the group said “excellent weather conditions” helped to accelerate sales in the second quarter, rising by 9.8 per cent.
Meanwhile Nichols, which sells Vimto in over 65 countries and brands such as Weight Watchers and Sunkist in the UK, reported a nine per cent rise in profit before tax to £9m for the first six months to 30 June, while sales were flat at £55m.