Britvic plc Preliminary Results 2007

29 November 2007 - Britvic plc ("Britvic") today announces its Preliminary Results for the 52 weeks ended 30 September 2007 ('the period').

Note regarding all numbers in this announcement other than those included within the Financial Statements: all numbers are disclosed before exceptional items and other than free cashflow and ROIC include a 5 week contribution from the recently acquired soft drinks and distribution businesses of C&C Group plc (Britvic Ireland) which contributed revenue of £13.8m and operating profit of £0.8m. All numbers exclude the Private Label Water business where the last contract expired in November 2005.

^*EBITDA is defined as operating profit before exceptional items, depreciation, amortisation and any gain or loss on disposal of fixed assets.

^**Free cashflow is defined as net cashflow excluding movements in borrowings, dividend payments and non cash exceptional items. Including the impact of the Britvic Ireland acquisition free cash flow is an outflow of £92.6m.

The ongoing Britvic Group, including the five week contribution from Britvic Ireland, grew revenues by 5.7% to £716.3m during the period.

Key highlights of the Britvic results for the period, excluding the five week contribution from Britvic Ireland, include:

• Out-performance of the soft drinks market in all of its key categories
  • Full year revenue growth of 3.7% to £702.5m
  • A resilient second half performance given the extremely poor summer weather and tough FY06 comparatives.
• Operating profit margin improvement of 40 basis points
  • Driven by a sharp focus on growing average realised price (ARP) and increasing efficiency
  • Underpinned by a rapid and strong management response to the poor summer trading conditions through further cost saving initiatives.
• Free cashflow of £75.1m, £26.2m ahead of the prior year driven by a continued focus on working capital and capital expenditure management
  • Return on Invested Capital (ROIC) of 20.7%, an increase of 370 basis points reflecting the continued focus on costs, cash flow and the proactive management of the Group's asset base.

  The Board is proposing a final dividend per share of 7.7p bringing the full year dividend per share to 11.0p. This reflects the Board's confidence in the future prospects of the business and the underlying cash generative nature of its activities.

  Paul Moody, Chief Executive commented:

  "We have out-performed the soft drinks market across all key categories, with a strong performance from our brands, despite difficult trading conditions in the second half of the year. The installation of our first aseptic line was a significant milestone and facilitated the major innovation launches of the year, Robinsons Smooth Juice and Fruit Shoot 100% Juice, both of which play to the natural agenda. We have maintained our focus on managing costs and driving efficiency, and the outsourcing of our secondary retail distribution network has been successfully implemented. While it is only three months since the completion of the Britvic Ireland acquisition, we are encouraged by the performance of the business.

  The combined effect of these actions has driven an 11% growth in profit after tax, a good result in a year of poor summer weather.

  The conditions in the soft drink market continued to be challenging at the beginning of our new financial year, reflecting the normal residual impact of a poor summer. However the fundamentals of the market remain strong and the market has shown modest growth in recent weeks. Against this background, Britvic has continued to grow its top line in the period since its year end, and we remain confident that we are well positioned for the year ahead, building on the recent acquisition of Britvic Ireland, further cost saving opportunities and a continued focus on the innovation pipeline. "