Britvic share price rebounds despite falling revenues
Investors shrugged off last quarter’s declining revenues at Britvic yesterday as the company reported a 0.4 per cent drop in group revenue to £304m compared to a year earlier.
Despite the decline, shares rebounded by 6.58 per cent as the company said it would still hit profit targets.
Its stock has endured a difficult 12 months, falling from a peak of 778p per share last February.
The company, well known for its Robinsons brand, suffered in its domestic British market with sales down three per cent to £73m on the year, while overall international sales, excluding France and Ireland, were down 3.6 per cent to £11m.
France and Ireland provided some relief, however, with sales up 2.3 per cent and 2.8 per cent to post revenues of £53m and £33m, respectively.
Growth in France helped to increase market share in the syrups, juice and kids categories with Teisseire Fruit Shoot building on its number one position in the kid’s category.
The decline in UK revenue was driven by a fall of 0.8 per cent in sales volumes, with UK still drinks contributing to most of the decline, down 2.8 per cent on the year whilst UK carbonated drinks fell 0.2 per cent.
The results were in line with expectation guidelines issued by the company last November. Chief exec Simon Litherland said: “While we expect the trading environment to remain challenging, we have strong marketing plans and a significant innovation pipeline in place for 2015”.