FIZZY drink maker Britvic suffered almost a 25 per cent plunge in annual profit, it revealed yesterday, following a writedown of French assets.

Profit before tax sank 24.3 per cent to £110.3m for the year to the end of September after Britvic struggled with a new law in France and wrote down £31.2m in local assets.

Revenue climbed 2.8 per cent year on year to £1.55bn while adjusted cash flow recorded a £116m inflow, compared to last year's £65m outflow.

Britvic blamed its profit slump on "a challenging year" in France following the introduction of a law designed to force companies to improve suppliers' pay.

That has raised prices for Britvic's brands, which has hurt sales.

"In this legislative environment, many companies have found their growth challenged and this has led to further intense competition across our branded portfolio," the company added.

The firm behind Tango, J20 and Fruit Shoot trimmed adjusted net debt by £9.4m to £575.5m.

Basic earnings per share shrank 31 per cent to 30.6p, however, though Britvic managed to hike its full-year dividend 6.4 per cent t It also wrote down £31.2m in value for three juice manufacturing sites it is looking to sell to rival Refresco.

However, the firm posted a 4.4 per cent year-on-year increase in adjusted operating profit to £214.1m thanks to sales of its low sugar and fruit-based drinks like Robinsons, Pepsi Max and R Whites.

"Sales of Britvic's low sugar and fruit-based beverages are a bright spot in the report," said Ask Traders' senior market analyst Steve Miley.

Shares closed flat yesterday at 985p.

BRITVIC P 1,000 980 960 985 27 Nov 940 21Nov 22 Nov 25Nov 26Nov 27 Nov

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