“We’ve seen very strong GB and International trading in the first four weeks of the second quarter,” said the company.
Britvic said that this, combined with action to address costs and more favourable commodity costs, led it to be confident about the delivery of expectations for the full year.
The group, which has the right to sell Pepsi in the UK and Ireland, and makes Tango, Robinsons and Fruit Shoot, said total revenue was £218.6m ($308.4m) for the 12 weeks to 21 December, its first quarter.
Britvic, which is Britain’s second biggest soft drinks maker behind Coca-Cola Enterprises, said it outperformed the UK soft drinks market in its key categories, making volume and value share gains.
Revenue in the GB and International division grew 3.8% during the period.
This was made up of still drinks growth of 1.4%, driven by market share gains from Robinsons and the continued success of last year’s launches of Gatorade and Drench, carbonates drinks growth of 5.2% and Britvic International growth of 18.2%.
Britvic Ireland contributed £49.9m, down 2.9%.
The group said it anticipated the UK soft drinks market will remain “relatively resilient” in 2009, but the Ireland market would be “particularly challenging”.
It forecast a further 1% reduction in raw material inflation to 4.0% to 4.5% in 2009.
Last Friday, Britvic said it planned to cut up to 145 jobs at its Britvic Ireland division as part of a strategic business review. It said exceptional costs from the group restructuring would be up to £10m in the current year.
Shares in Britvic, which have lost 29% of their value over the past year, closed Tuesday at 225 pence, valuing the business at £486m.
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