(Alliance News) - Britvic PLC on Wednesday said it delivered a "robust" first half, entering the Covid-19 crisis with good momentum.
Shares in the FTSE 250-listed soft drinks maker were trading 4.3% higher at 751.74 pence each on Wednesday morning in London.
Britvic said revenue for the 26 weeks to the end of March was GBP698.8 million compared to GBP769.2 million posted for the 28 weeks to April 14, 2019. However, pretax profit rose to GBP53.6 million from GBP45.2 million as administration costs were reduced to GBP99.9 million from GBP132.8 million.
While "confident" in liquidity, Britvic said it has decided to defer a dividend decision to later in the year, when the impact of Covid-19 will be clearer. In comparison, last year, an interim dividend of 8.4p was declared.
Since mid-March, Covid-19 restrictions have significantly hurt Britvic's Out-of-Home category, including on-the-go consumption.
Looking ahead, Chief Executive Simon Litherland said: "We entered the Covid-19 crisis with strong momentum, having delivered a robust first half performance, which continues our track record of consistent delivery since 2013. As a business and as a team, we have repeatedly demonstrated our agility as well as our ability to successfully navigate tough headwinds. While these times are clearly unparalleled, soft drinks has proven itself to be a resilient category time and time again."
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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Britvic (BVIC)