LONDON: British soft drinks maker Britvic posted a 19 percent fall in annual profit, blaming a costly recall of its Fruit Shoot children's drink and a cold, wet summer across most of its markets.
The Tango and Robinsons maker, which this month agreed terms on a 1.4 billion pound merger with smaller rival and Irn-Bru producer A.G. Barr, on Tuesday said underlying pretax profit was 84.4 million pounds ($135 million) in the year to Sept. 30, down from 105.1 million pounds in 2010/11.
Britvic, which also makes and sells PepsiCo brands in Britain and Ireland, said a strong GB carbonates performance and market share gains had been undone by a recall of its Fruit Shoot drink over faulty caps. The recall will cost it 16.9 million pounds this year, and up to 8 million in 2013, it said.
The Fruit Shoot hit pushed total group revenue down 2.6 percent to 1.26 billion pounds, impacting its GB Stills, International and France businesses, while its Ireland operation continued to slump under tough economic conditions.
Group adjusted net debt was 446.7 million pounds.
Britvic's all-share deal with Barr, which is subject to both shareholder and regulatory approval, will create one of Europe's biggest soft drinks companies, named Barr Britvic Soft Drinks.
The enlarged group, to be run by highly-rated Barr chief executive Roger White, will result in a 63 percent stake for Britvic shareholders with AG Barr investors holding the rest.
Shares in Britvic closed at 477 pence on Monday, up 30 percent on six months ago, valuing the business at 557 million pounds.
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