Britvic's thirst for increasing sales slaked by growth in key markets

DRINKS company Britvic has announced a 30 per cent rise in sales for the 40 weeks up to July 6.

The company, which is the UK bottler for PepsiCo Inc soft drinks, said the purchase of an Irish C&C unit and mild weather contributed to the results.

It reported growth in key markets, including squash, juice drinks, water and sports drinks, but warned that it expects challenging times ahead.

Sales climbed to £690 million, while the Irish division, purchased in August, contributed £147m of revenue in nine months.