British soft drinks maker Britvic today reported a 19% fall in annual profit.
It blamed a costly recall of its Fruit Shoot children's drink and a cold, wet summer across most of its markets.
The recall will cost it £16.9m this year, and up to £8m in 2013, it said.
The Tango and Robinsons maker said its underlying pretax profit was £84.4m in the year to September 30, down from £105.1m the previous year.
Britvic, which also makes and sells PepsiCo brands in Britain and Ireland, said a strong GB carbonates performance and market share gains had been undone by a recall of its Fruit Shoot drink over faulty caps.
The Fruit Shoot hit pushed total group revenue down 0.8% to £1.26 billion at constant exchange rates, impacting its GB Stills, International and France businesses.
The group also said that its Irish operations continued to slump under tough economic conditions. It noted that the pubs and clubs sector continued to contract here and were significantly impacted by the performance of the third party brands that it distributes through the licensed wholesale business.
Britvic said it continued to invest in and support its key brands in Ireland, with MiWadi, Club and 7Up retaining their number one positions. It also refreshed its Ballygowan brand as it looks to ''cement'' its clear number one position,
''Trading conditions remained difficult in Ireland and we have to take action to reduce costs, including a material reduction in headcount and the outsourcing of secondary distribution,'' the company said in its results statement.
Britvic earlier this month agreed terms on a £1.4 billion merger with smaller rival and Irn-Bru producer AG Barr. The all-share deal with Barr, which is subject to both shareholder and regulatory approval, will create one of Europe's biggest soft drinks companies, named Barr Britvic Soft Drinks.
The enlarged group, to be run by highly-rated Barr chief executive Roger White, will result in a 63% stake for Britvic shareholders with AG Barr investors holding the rest.
