23rd Jul 2015 06:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Britvic PLC Thursday said it has bought Brazilian soft drinks company Empresa Brasileira de Bebidas e Alimentos SA for GBP113.6 million, partly financed by a share issue, and reported a rise in revenue in the third quarter of its financial year.
Britvic, which owns soft drinks brands including Robinsons, J2O and Tango, said the acquisition will provide it with access to the world's sixth largest soft drinks market and the largest concentrates market globally, and will allow it to introduce its current brands into the Brazilian market.
"The acquisition of ebba represents a unique opportunity to acquire a high quality business in a substantial soft drinks market, with exciting future growth potential. ebba operates in categories where Britvic has a proven capability of building new markets, accelerating innovation and establishing brand leadership. We have been in dialogue with ebba for some time and have completed a significant amount of due diligence in assessing the value and prospects of the business and the wider marketplace," Chief Executive Simon Litherland said in a statement.
Britvic said it will place up to 12.4 million shares, 4.97% of its current total, through an accelerated bookbuild process in order to raise GBP90 million to fund its acquisition of ebba, which would equate to 725.81 pence per share. Britvic shares closed at 733.31p on Wednesday.
In a separate statement, Britvic said that revenue grew 1% in the third quarter of its financial year to GBP322.3 million. It said this was driven by a volume increase of 2% in the 12 weeks to July 5, as sales growth in Ireland, France and the International sector offset a decline in Great Britain.
"I am pleased to see the business back into revenue growth this quarter following the investment we have made in our brands and innovation launches in each of our markets. We have also executed some fantastic marketing campaigns, including Robinsons 80 year association with Wimbledon and the Teisseire sponsorship of the Tour De France," Litherland said.
"Despite continued challenging market conditions, we remain confident of delivering further profitable growth in 2015, in line within our guidance range of GBP164 million to GBP173 million, and we continue to invest behind the long-term drivers of growth," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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