Britvic today reports its first quarter trading performance
Group revenue up 4.8% to £303.2m, with strong growth in average realised price
GB revenue up 5.4%, led by GB carbonates revenue growth of 9.2%
France revenue growth of 4.3%, driven by average realised price
Britvic today announces that agreement has been reached with PAB (PepsiCo Americas Beverages) to accelerate the distribution of Fruit Shoot to a total of 30 US states by summer 2013 and with PepsiCo South West Europe for the national distribution of Fruit Shoot in Spain commencing early spring 2013.
GB revenue grew 5.4% with volume and ARP (average realised price) increasing by 2.1% and 3.2% respectively. By comparison Nielsen reports that during this period the take-home soft drinks market grew in value by 1.3% but declined in volume by 2.4%.
Carbonates performed particularly strongly with revenue growth of 9.2% exceeding last year's growth of 5.8%. ARP was up 3.9% and volumes increased by 4.9% as our brands took both volume and value take-home market share.
Stills revenue, impacted by the limited Fruit Shoot supply levels, declined by 0.7%. Excluding Fruit Shoot, however, our GB Stills segment was in growth. Robinsons continued to grow its market share versus the prior year, with double concentrate performing especially well as consumers respond positively to our improved marketing and sales execution. The success of moving consumers from single to double concentrate was a key driver of the 6.2% ARP growth whilst volume declined by 6.4%. The return of Fruit Shoot to market is in line with our plan with production levels now back to previous historical levels.
Ireland revenue declined 2.8%, due to the third party products that we distribute in our licensed wholesale business. Our own brands outperformed a weak market, and we grew our own brand revenues with ARP up 7.6% against a volume decrease of 2.4%. Nielsen reports that the Irish take-home soft drinks market declined by 7.6% in volume and 5.0% in value during the last quarter, with impulse performing substantially worse.
France revenue grew 4.3% following last year's 12.6% growth. ARP grew by 7.3% benefitting from the price increase and pack changes implemented last year during this quarter. The take-home soft drinks market in France, declined in volume by 1.7% with value flat during the quarter.
International revenue grew by 35.6% with ARP up 17.5% and volumes up 15.4%. This very strong performance in the quarter was led by the successful reintroduction of Fruit Shoot in the Netherlands which is back to historical supply and distribution levels.
Following successful Fruit Shoot trials in nine states with PAB (PepsiCo Americas Beverages) and independent Pepsi bottlers, an agreement with PAB has been reached to accelerate US Fruit Shoot distribution. The agreement provides for the roll out of Fruit Shoot into the convenience and gas channel in an additional 21 states, resulting in Fruit Shoot being available in a total of 30 states by summer 2013. A further development in the International growth of Fruit Shoot is the announcement today of an agreement with PepsiCo South West Europe for the national distribution of Fruit Shoot in Spain. This agreement includes both the grocery and convenience market, and will commence in early spring 2013. PepsiCo Spain is a fully integrated and owned bottler of PepsiCo themselves and has strong distribution of both beverages and snack foods.
Merger: As per the announcements made on the 8 January and 16 January, we have now received shareholder approval for the proposed merger with A.G. Barr plc. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including approval by the Office of Fair Trading, the expected effective date of the merger is 26 February 2013.
