One of this morning’s stock market winners came from the FTSE 250, as positive half-time results lifted Britvic (LSE: BVIC) over 5% in early trade.
Under the guise of group earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT), profits jumped by 13.5% at constant currency exchange rates, contributing to half-year adjusted earnings per share of 14.5p — a 16.9% increase on last year.
Revenue grew by 4.7% in the 28 weeks ended 13 April 2014, to £670.7m, with France and Great Britain posting impressive results: revenue increased by 7% and 5% respectively, offsetting a 5.2% decline in Ireland.
Britvic makes drinks like Robinsons squash, Tango and Fruit Shoot — and it’s the latter that got investors lapping up shares this morning, as the company confirmed that its distribution of the Fruit Shoot brand has now gone nationwide in the United States, doubtless a potentially hugely profitable market, while the launch of the brand in the emerging market of India is also on track.
On the company’s future prospects, CEO Simon Litherland commented:
“We remain on-track to meet our target of £30 million of annual cost savings by 2016… Whilst we anticipate that the consumer environment is likely to remain challenging across our core markets, we remain confident of delivering EBIT in the range of £148m to £156m for the full year.”
Shareholders will also be pleased with the 13% increase in the interim dividend, which has risen to 6.1p, putting Britvic on a forecast yield of 2.9%.
