24th Nov 2021 10:04
(Alliance News) - Britvic PLC on Wednesday said annual profit rose despite revenue remaining mostly unchanged, due to a lockdown-damaged first-half performance.
The Hertfordshire-based soft drinks producer said pretax profit for the year that ended September 30 grew 29% to GBP142.9 million from GBP111.2 million.
Britvic's revenue remained largely flat at GBP1.41 billion, a marginal decrease of 0.5% from the year before. This was blamed on a poor first-half performance that saw Britvic's Out-of-Home business take a hit from lockdowns around the UK. Out-of-Home means sales via restaurants, pubs and caterers, many of which were shut during the period.
"Our financial performance in the first half was impacted by lockdowns and social distancing measures across our markets. This impacted our channel mix, with the At-Home channel growing strongly, while Out-of-Home trading was significantly impacted by on-trade closures and capacity limitations," the company said.
Britvic declared an annual dividend of 24.2p, up 12% from the 21.6p the year before.
"This year we have recovered strongly from the effects of the pandemic, with underlying revenue, margin, and profit all in growth. Our disciplined cash management enabled us to pay down debt and to increase our dividend by 12.0%, reflecting our confidence in the business," Chief Executive Simon Litherland said.
Britvic still noted operational headwinds leading to increased inflation.
Nonetheless, it is confident of making further progress with revenue, profit and margin growth in 2022 despite inflationary cost pressures.
Shares in Britvic were up 0.2% at 879.44 pence each on Tuesday morning in London. The wider FTSE 250 index was down 0.4%.
By Abby Amoakuh; [email protected]
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