London, Nov 26 - British soft drinks maker Britvic reported a 14 percent increase in full-year pretax profit on Wednesday and said each of its key brands had gained market share, outperforming the broader market.
Britvic, whose brands include Tango, Robinsons squash, and R Whites lemonade, said pretax profit for the year to Sept. 28 was 70.1 million pounds ($107.8 million) compared with 61.3 million the previous year.
That was at the top end of expectations which ranged between 59 million pounds and 71 million pounds, according to a Reuters Estimates poll of nine analysts.
"This is a strong performance achieved despite very challenging trading and cost environments," said Chief Executive Paul Moody.
Britvic, which is Britain's second biggest soft drinks maker behind Coca-Cola Enterprises, said it had seen particular growth in Great Britain from Robinsons and its Fruit Shoot juice drink, as well as Pepsi, which it has the rights to sell in the UK and Ireland.
Sales had also been boosted by new launches such as the Gatorade sports drink, Drench water, and Pepsi Raw, a new cola drink, it said.
Britivic said conditions in the soft drink market had been tough at the beginning of the new financial year, but it had been reassured with its performance since the year end.
The company is paying a final dividend of 8.8 pence per share, making a total dividend of 12.6 pence, up 14.5 percent.