Britvic has said the recent carbon dioxide crisis hit its fizzy drink sales and left it unable to make the most of surging demand amid the summer heatwave.
The company said UK sales of fizzy drinks, excluding the new soft drinks sugar tax, fell 2.9% in the three months to July 8 due to the CO2 woes.
It was forced to switch promotions to its still drinks ranges, which saw sales jump 11.7% stripping out the sugar tax impact.
This helped UK sales overall rise 8%, or 1.9% higher excluding the sugar tax, while underlying group sales fell 0.6% in the quarter.
Including the sugar tax, group revenues rose 3.4%.
The company said its Irish revenues increased by 11.3% despite a strong comparative period last year and disruption from the carbon dioxide shortage.
It said its Irish stills portfolio, including Ballygowan water, benefited from the "exceptionally warm weather" in the period.
The group - which also bottles Pepsi in the UK and Ireland - said CO2 supplies are now back to normal and it has started rebuilding its stock levels and launching further fizzy drink promotions.
"Whilst the industry-wide shortage of carbon dioxide held back our ability to fully capitalise on the exceptional weather in Great Britain and Ireland, we leveraged the breadth and strength of our portfolio to moderate the impact," Simon Litherland, Britvic's chief executive said.
"Consequently, we remain confident of achieving market expectations for the full year," he added.
The fizzy drink shortage was caused by a raft of closures of factories producing the gas as a by-product of the fertiliser industry.
Factories normally close temporarily for maintenance in the summer, but this year too many plants across Europe shut at the same time, leaving CO2 supplies woefully short.
In its trading update, Britvic said it was unable to fully gauge the impact of the UK soft drinks sugar tax, which was introduced in April, given the CO2 shortage and the recent boost from warm weather.
It said it would have a clearer picture of the impact at the end of the year.
"Early indications remain positive for the category and Britvic, with the shift from full sugar to low or no sugar products accelerating," it added.
