Britvic said this morning its Irish soft drinks division delivered profits of £4.3 million (€5.3 million) during the six month period ending April 13th.
The drinks firm and bottler said profit before tax for the year was up 19.3 per cent at £13 million.
In a statement the company said the division, which it purchased from &C Group last year for £170 million was performing well and had contributed revenues of £99.5 million. It said the division was on track to deliver annual pre-tax synergies of €14 million by the end of 2009.
Britvic has a bottling deal with PepsiCo running until 2019 in Ireland and 2023 in the UK.
Over the period Britvic incurred £3.9 million in costs associated with the closure of a Cork factory. Britvic will close the factory this year to cut costs as beverage makers pay more for juices, glass and power.
Net income for the group was down £4.9 million, or 2.2 pence a share from £6.9 million, or 3.2 pence, a year earlier, the company said.
Paul Moody chief executive officer said in a statement that "the first half of our year has been a period of modest growth for the soft drinks market overall, with improving growth trends evident in the early weeks of the second half".
Last month Mr Moody indicated that the company was looking at soft-drink acquisitions in northwestern Europe.
Profit was also weighed down by a rise in net finance costs to £14.2 million from £9 million, the statement shows.
Revenues were 29 per cent ahead at £454.7 million and were lifted by the contribution from the Irish soft-drinks unit.
Sales of still beverages in Britain were up 2.8 per cent at £161.8 million, while carbonated drinks revenue increased 0.4 per cent to £185.4 million.
The operating margin, a measure of profitability, widened by 0.1 percentage points to 6.9 per cent, Britvic said.Operating profit rose 9.8 per cent to £21.3 million.
Additional reporting agencies
