Pepsi bottler Britvic warns of challenging market

LONDON - Soft drinks maker Britvic PLC, the British bottler for PepsiCo Inc., warned Friday that the take-home and licensed premises markets in which it trades will continue to record low growth, while rising raw material costs remain a significant challenge for the sector. Britvic, which makes Robinsons Barley Water and Tango, also reported that sales rose 30 percent in the first 40 weeks of the fiscal year. Britvic, Britain's second-largest soft drinks maker behind Coca-Cola Enterprises, said that British and international sales excluding Britvic Ireland--the soft drinks operations of Ireland's Cantrell & Cochrane Group PLC it purchased in May--rose 3.7 percent over the period. "Looking forwards, although we anticipate rising input and energy cost pressures, our strong focus on cost control allows us to remain confident... [read full story]