Britvic fizzes despite its cheap rivals

Fizzy drinks are selling well but pub landlords are trading down to cheaper mixers, Britvic, makers of Robinsons drinks, said today.

While the firm has seen "solid" UK sales growth in the past six months, Britvic says pubs are turning away from dearer J20 and Robinsons drinks in favour of cheaper alternatives such as dispensed fizzy drinks.

Still drink volumes were down 6.1% in the 28 weeks to April 17, despite stronger growth across Britvic's carbonated brands, thanks to new products such as Mountain Dew Energy, launched in the UK last year.

Britvic enjoyed double-digit growth across its international operations -helped by the launch of Fruit Shoot in Australia.

But pre-tax profits were flat at £27.7 million as the company comes under increasing pressure from "unprecedented" rises in input costs such as oil - which puts up the cost of its plastic bottles - and sugar. Shares rose 6p to 432p.