Soft drinks firm Britvic has reported a near 20% fall in profits, after an Essex boy choked on a newly designed lid of a Fruit Shoot bottle,
forcing a £17M product recall.
The firm reported profits of £84.4M for the year to September 30 – a fall of 19% compared with the £105.1M posted in the previous year.
Total revenues fell by 0.8% to £1.26bn.
Britvic said Fruit Shoot production will be back to normal by January. But the recall could cost a further £8M in the next financial year.
Wet summer
The firm attributed the performance both to the recall and the wet summer, which had “weighed heavily on the soft drinks market”, it said.
But its fizzy drink brands, particularly Pepsi, had “significantly outperformed the market”, claimed the firm.
Meanwhile, earlier this month the firm announced a £1.5bn merger with Irn Bru maker AG Barr to create “a world class soft drinks company”.
