Britvic profits down 19% but claims Fruit Shoot is back on track

Robinsons and Tango-marker Britvic has suffered a 19% drop in pre-tax profits, but claims the performance of its Fruit Shoot brand, which suffered a country-wide product recall this year, is back on track.

Britvic: claims its Fruit Shoot brand is now back on track following earlier recall
Britvic: claims its Fruit Shoot brand is now back on track following earlier recall

Britvic, which recently agreed a £1.4bn merger with Irn-Bru, reported a pre-tax profit of £84.4m for the year to 30 September, down from £105.1m for the same period last year.

The drop in profits came as Britvic took a £16.9m hit to cover the cost of the recall of the bottles of the Fruit Shoot children's drink, which was pulled from supermarket shelves because of safety concerns.

The recall is still estimated to have cost the business between £15m and £25m, which "fundamentally changed the performance of the business".

However, Britvic is adamant that its marketing work around the brand since the recall, which included a return to TV with a campaign declaring, 'We're Back,' is helping to push Fruit Shoot brand health measures back to pre-recall levels.

Britvic said: "Our marketing teams have delivered marketing and communication programmes in each business unit, underpinned by strong execution activity, to ensure that we return the Fruit Shoot brand back to its previous market scale as soon as possible.

"The early indicators are positive, with brand health measures back towards pre-recall levels."

Britvic's fizzy drinks operations in the UK, which includes the distribution of Pepsi, were hit by greater competition in the market.

Topics

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Advertising Intelligence Market Reports.

Find out more

Enjoying ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s content?

 Get unlimited access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s premium content for your whole company with a corporate licence.

Upgrade access

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an alert now

Partner content