Still volumes down at Britvic

Britvic, the soft drinks producer and distributor, this morning blamed a 0.7% third quarter stills volume decline in the UK on a fall in trade in licensed on-trade premises.

It said the World Cup, which impacted food-led businesses, had made it a "challenging quarter" for its single-serve products and said "consumers continued to see value in dispense offerings".

However, the company also revealed it had seen its fourth consecutive quarter of growth in the UK take home soft drinks market, with a 6.5% growth in volumes and 6.3% increase in value.

Carbonate drinks saw an overall 13.8% volume increase.

Britvic reported a 16.2% increase in group revenue to £289m and international revenues in the quarter grew by 6.6% to £223.2m.

Britvic France, the newly-created division comprising Fruité Entreprises SA, contributed revenue of £23.2m for the month of June following completion of the acquisition at the end of May 2010. The company said that this was in line with expectations.

Paul Moody, chief executive, said: "In the third quarter Britvic has demonstrated robust top-line growth across GB, International and Ireland. The expertise we have in through-the-line execution, winning innovation and category insight will further strengthen our new business in France, which is a strategically-important addition to the Britvic group.

"We continue to remain cautious about consumer sentiment in our trading territories, but as a result of our strong performance in the quarter and in the year to date, the board remains confident of meeting current market expectations for the full 2010 financial year."

Year-to-date UK carbonate volumes were up by 10.1% and stills up by 1.9%.