Britvic refreshed by appetite for soft drinks in hard times

Times are hard but soft drinks remain an affordable treat.

There's little hint of impending recession or eurozone crisis in annual results from Britvic, the company behind Fruit Shoot and Robinsons, which also makes Pepsi in the UK.

For the year to October 2 sales leapt an impressive 14.6% to £1.29 billion.

Profit was more or less flat at £105 million due to rising costs, but chief executive Paul Moody declared himself content. "The soft drinks market is pretty resilient," he says. "Consumers are committed to soft drinks, it is part of their lives."

Britvic has struck a deal with Pepsi to sell Fruit Shoot in the American states of Florida and Georgia. It plans to move into other US states.

The dividend is shoved up a tasty 6% to 17.7p.