logo-loader

Britvic shares touch all-time highs as annual profits rise despite “challenging environment”

Published: 03:48 29 Nov 2018 EST

tango
Britvic sold more than 2.4bn litres of soft drinks last year

Shares in Britvic Plc (LON:BVIC) fizzed higher on Thursday after the J2O maker posted a 5% rise in annual revenue and profit.

The FTSE 250 group saw revenue climb to £1.50bn in the 12 months through to the end of September 30, up from £1.43bn a year earlier.

The bottom line followed suit, rising to £117.1mln (2017: £111.6mln).

Chief executive Simon Litherland said the results were made “even more impressive” given the “numerous headwinds” during the year, including the CO2 shortage over summer and the introduction of the sugar tax.

Shares rose 5.3% in early deals on Thursday to 824p, touching all-time highs.

READ: Britvic revenues rise in Q3

Alongside its own brands, which include Robinson’s and Tango, Britvic also makes and sells some Pepsi products, including the sugar-free Pepsi MAX, which helped to drive sales growth in the stills division.

 “We have delivered a strong performance in a challenging environment, with good revenue, margin and earnings growth,” said CEO Litherland.

“I am delighted that we have grown our stills brands, demonstrating that our investment in innovation and marketing is beginning to pay off.”

He added: “The investment in the transformational business capability programme is now nearing completion and is already delivering significant efficiency and commercial benefits.”

The company has been ploughing money into its business of late which has hit free cash flow, although it expects this will “increase materially” I the current year as the planned investment programme comes to an end.

Britvic acknowledged the uncertainty around Brexit but said it expects to “make further progress” over the next 12 months.

BenevolentAI advances novel ulcerative colitis treatment through Phase 1a trial

BenevolentAI (OTC:BAIVF) chief scientific officer Dr Anne Phelan joins Proactive's Stephen Gunnion with positive safety data from the Phase 1a, first-in-human, clinical study of BEN-8744 in healthy volunteers. Phelan explained that BEN-8744 is a potent, selective PD10 inhibitor, uniquely...

2 hours, 23 minutes ago