REVENUES AT Britvic Ireland fell by 10.1 per cent to €53.5 million in the final quarter of 2009 as shoppers continued to seek “value” during the recession and the pub trade remained “under pressure”, according to a trading update issued yesterday at its annual meeting.

Britvic, which owns the Club brands and Ballygowan water, indicated it had slightly outperformed the Irish market overall. While the volume of sales in the grocery market here was flat, the value was down 12.8 per cent.

“Shoppers in Ireland have again focused on value in the latest quarter,” Britvic chairman Gerald Corbett told shareholders at its AGM yesterday.

The company said “promotions and discounting” were being “driven harder” by retailers. In the pub trade, Britvic said it had “significantly” gained market share.

Own-brand volumes were down by 4 per cent in the quarter.

Britvic said it was “fully on track” to achieve €27 million in cost savings in the Irish business for 2010/11.

In contrast to its performance in Ireland, Britvic’s British and international revenues grew by 15.2 per cent during the period.

Britvic’s total revenues were £242.7 million for the 12 weeks to December 20th, an increase of 11 per cent.

The company outperformed the British market, with growth in GB carbonates revenue reaching 20.1 per cent, while GB stills grew 9.6 per cent.

Britvic’s volume share of the take-home market rose a further 0.4 per cent. The GB stills market grew 3 per cent in volume, driven by categories such as plain water and sports drinks. This outpaced carbonates growth of 1.4 per cent, which saw growth from the cola and glucose/stimulant categories.

Britvic said the licensed on-premise soft drink market also saw some recovery, particularly in November.

Looking ahead, the company said it expected the Irish market to remain challenging, with resilience in the British soft drinks market throughout 2010.

“Given the exceptionally strong performance during the comparative period in 2009, the second quarter would be expected to see a relative slowing of the rate of growth. In addition, adverse weather conditions have been unhelpful in the early weeks of January resulting in a marked slowing of demand and looking ahead, we again remain cautious about the outlook for consumer confidence and spending in the balance of the financial year.”