Fruit Shoot recall hits Britvic

The company, which is currently in talks with Scottish Irn-Bru maker AG Barr about a £1.3bn merger, said it was nonetheless confident about meeting its full-year expectations.

“We continue to place a strong emphasis on cash generation and rigorous cost management across the group,” chief executive Paul Moody said in trading update.

Britvic, which makes and sells PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi and 7UP in Britain and Ireland, was hit this summer by poor weather and a recall of its popular children’s drink Fruit Shoot over faulty caps.

It estimated that the product recall impacted revenue growth by approximately two per cent.

Group revenue for the year to September 30 inched down to £1.26bn, a decline of 0.8 per cent at a constant exchange rate. Volumes were down 1.6 per cent.

Poor trading in the final quarter in Britain and Ireland, where revenue slid respectively by 4.3 per cent and 8.5 per cent, overshadowed a 13.3 per cent jump in France that was driven by price hikes.

Britvic said talks with AG Barr were ongoing. The proposed all-share merger would create one of Europe’s leading soft drink companies, selling products ranging from Robinsons squash with Irn-Bru, the fizzy orange drink long-dubbed “Scotland’s other national drink,” alongside Scotch whisky.