Ciara Kenny

Drinks group Britvic has reported positive trading in the first quarter of the year and says it is on track to deliver full-year earnings in line with its previous guidance of between £148 million and £156 million.

In an interim management statement issued this morning, the company said revenue increased by 2.8 per cent on an actual exchange rate basis to £311.8 million, “despite a continued challenging consumer environment”

Revenue in its Irish market grew 2.1 per cent in the three months to December 22nd on a comparable basis, while revenue in Britain increased 1.5 per cent, driven by robust APR growth of 3 per cent.

Revenue in France was up 4.7 per cent in the period.

Britvic's chief executive Simon Litherland said the company had delivered a "robust quarter one performance".

“We continued to make good progress implementing our new strategy and remain on-track to deliver our cost reduction initiatives as planned this year. Trading in the first few weeks of quarter two is ahead of last year.”

Britvic is the largest supplier of branded still soft drinks in Ireland, with brands such as MiWadi and Ballygowan. It is also the exclusive supplier in Britain and Ireland of PepsiCo brands.

Britvic Ireland’s manufacturing plant in Dublin manufactures Fruit Shoot concentrate for export markets such as the US.

The company introduced its new licensed wholesale business Counterpoint to Ireland in the quarter, to supply pubs and clubs.