AG Barr and Britvic deadline day October 2, 2012 Soft drink giants AG Barr and Britvic could announce details of their proposed £1.4bn merger today as a deadline set by the Takeover Panel expires. The proposal, which first appeared on 5 September, would see Britvic shareholders own 63 per cent of the new business and AG Barr shareholders take 37 per cent. A new [...]
Britvic and AG Barr extend talks over £1.4bn merger by a month October 31, 2012 BRITVIC and AG Barr, the soft drinks companies planning a £1.4bn merger, yesterday extended talks for a second time until the end of the month. In a statement announcing a new Takeover Panel deadline of 28 November, the companies said “substantial progress has been made and the two parties are at an advanced stage of [...]
Britvic confident despite costly Fruit Shoot recall hitting results October 18, 2012 SOFT drinks group Britvic, maker of the J2O and Tango brands, yesterday blamed a recall of its Robinsons Fruit Shoot drinks earlier this summer for hitting its full-year revenue. Withdrawing the bottles, due to faulty non-spill caps, cost the company £25m, and dented revenue growth by an estimated two per cent. Group revenue for the [...]
Britvic and AG Barr gear up for £1.4bn deal September 5, 2012 TANGO soft drink maker Britvic yesterday revealed it had been approached by AG Barr, maker of Scottish staple Irn-Bru, in a plucky bid to merge the two beverage firms. AG Barr, which is much smaller than Britvic with revenues of £237m versus £1.3bn, said yesterday there was a “compelling industrial logic” for the plan. The [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 14, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES JPMorgan’s Gulati launches fund JPMorgan’s global head of equity proprietary trading is quitting to set up a hedge fund in Switzerland in what will be the first prominent launch of a fund since several bank spinouts floundered last year. Deepak Gulati, once one of the bank’s star traders, will launch Argentière Capital probably [...]
Best of the Brokers for 20 February 2013 February 19, 2013 STANDARD CHARTERED Shares in the bank rose 2.3 per cent as analysts at Morgan Stanley upgraded it from “equal weight” to “overweight” and upped its target price from 1656p to 1924p. Morgan Stanley said it was “switching our preference from HSBC to Standard Chartered due to the improvement in the Asian economic environment (a positive [...]
Irn Bru maker AG Barr expects revenue growth as merger nears January 24, 2013 AG BARR, the maker of soft drinks Irn Bru, Tizer and Rubicon, yesterday said it expected to have outperformed the soft drinks market in its final quarter despite a summer of bad weather. The company, which is awaiting approval from the Office of Fair Trading on its merger with rival Britvic, anticipates total sales in [...]
Wet weather leads to drought for revenue growth for Britvic July 19, 2012 THE SUMMER washout has dampened sales of soft drinks, Britvic complained yesterday as it reported a deluge of disappointing figures. Britvic’s revenues dropped 7.6 per cent in the quarter, hurt by a currency impact as well as falling sales. The firm was last month forced to recall its Fruit Shoot drinks after a choking scare [...]
Britvic slumps as drinks maker says recall may cost up to £25m July 11, 2012 SHARES in soft drink maker Britvic fell as much as 17 per cent yesterday, after it warned that the cost of product recalls announced last week could hit £25m. The soft drinks producer recalled all bottles of Robinsons Fruit Shoot Regular, Hydro and Low Sugar after the children’s drinks were hit by manufacturing flaws following [...]
Ireland drives down Britvic May 24, 2012 BRITISH soft drinks maker and distributor Britvic’s half-year profit fell more than 10 per cent, hurt by a drop in sales and average realised price in Ireland. Pre-tax profit for the 28 weeks to 15 April fell to £24.8m from £27.7m a year ago. Revenues climbed 1.7 per cent to £641.1m, but sales in Ireland [...]