Soft drinks firm Britvic said today that fierce competition between retailers at home in the coming year would likely put pressure on prices and weigh on sales growth.
The Robinsons squash maker said operating profit should rise next year from the £158.1m earned in the 12 months to September, but cost savings would be the main driver.
The company's main markets are Britain, Ireland and France.
"From a revenue perspective, we do see a relatively flat to slightly declining category," the company's chief executive Simon Litherland told Reuters.
He was speaking about the overall soft drinks market, which has been hurt by changing consumer tastes and budgets.
Litherland said competition between Britain's grocers would weigh on prices, adding that it expects fairly subdued revenue growth for the year.
While Britvic's full-year operating profit, or earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), was up 17.6% and ahead of its expected range of £148-156m, sales slipped 4% in its fourth quarter, a decline it put down to poor summer weather.
For the full year, sales rose 2.4% to £1.34 billion, with growth in both volume and prices.
For the new financial year, Britvic expects operating profit in the range of £164-173m, again underpinned by cost savings.
The company, which makes and sells PepsiCo brands such as Pepsi and 7UP in Ireland and the UK, said cost savings came in £2m above 2014 targets and it was on track to deliver cumulative savings of £25m in its 2015 financial year.
Britvic rejected a merger proposal from smaller rival AG Barr in July 2013 in favour of a cost-cutting drive aimed at funding expansion.
The group has since started selling its Fruit Shoot children's drink across the US, Spain and India.
Following a roll-out of it single-serve packages, it plans to launch multipacks of Fruit Shoot in the US in the second half of 2015, getting into the much bigger market for large packages to take home.
Britvic also said it plans to expand its capacity, including spending £25m on a new high-speed plastic bottle line and warehousing.
