Britvic plc is a British producer of

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...

s based in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

, England. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

and is a constituent of the

FTSE 250 Index The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septem ...

. It produces soft drinks under its own name, and several other brands.

History

The company was founded in the mid-nineteenth century in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of Londo ...

as the ''British Vitamin Products Company''. It started producing fruit juices in 1938 and started marketing them under the ''Britvic'' name in 1949. Acquired by Showerings of

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parish in the Mendip District of Somerset, England, some south-west of Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. Mendip District Council is based ...

, and subsequently a division of

Allied Breweries Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The br ...

from 1968, the company changed its name to ''Britvic'' in 1971. In 1986, it merged with ''Canada Dry Rawlings'' and acquired the

R. White's Lemonade R. White's Lemonade is a British brand of a carbonated lemonade, which is produced and sold in the United Kingdom by Britvic. Robert and Mary White produced the first R. White's lemonade in Camberwell, south London, in 1845. The White Family took ...

brand. It acquired

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

and the

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

brand from Beechams in 1987 and since that year it has also owned the UK franchise for

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi wa ...

and

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

. In 1995, it bought Robinson's from Reckitt & Colman. In December 2005, the company underwent an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

(IPO) allowing its main shareholders (

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the ...

Whitbread Whitbread plc is a multinational British hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742, and had become the largest brewery in the world by the 1780s. Its largest division ...

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or '' Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also pro ...

) to realise their investments. In May 2007, the Company bought the soft drinks and distribution businesses of Ireland's Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C) for £169.5m. On 14 November 2012, the company announced plans to merge with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

's soft drink's producer A.G. Barr, whose brands include

Irn-Bru Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" (after whisky). Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of Glasgo ...

Tizer Tizer is a red-coloured, citrus-flavoured soft drink bottled in Cumbernauld and sold in the United Kingdom. The name originally comes from the phrase "Tizer the Appetizer". It was launched in 1924 by Fred and Tom Pickup of Pudsey when it was ...

and D'n'B, which would have created one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies. The merger was put into serious doubt after the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic regu ...

referred the merger to the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

. On 11 July 2013, A.G. Barr Chairman Ronnie Hanna announced that the proposed merger of Britvic and A.G. Barr had been abandoned. In May 2017,

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufa ...

announced that it had decided to sell up to all of its long-held 4.5 per cent stake in Britvic.

Operations

Most of the company's operations are concentrated in the United Kingdom and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and the company exports to over 50 countries. Its corporate headquarters moved from Chelmsford, Essex to Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in March 2012.

United Kingdom

The drink brands the company owns in the UK include Britvic mixers, R. White's Lemonade,

, Robinson's and J₂O – as well as being the licensed bottler for PepsiCo products within the UK. In 2008, Britvic launched

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. Gatorade is currently manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was first develo ...

in the UK, after securing the rights to do so from

. In May 2010, Britvic launched a UK specific version of the popular drink, Mountain Dew Energy. It tastes similar to its American counterpart, but has a lower caffeine and sugar content.

Ireland

After their failed IPO C&C's sold their soft drink brands to Britvic, resulting in the company now owning a number of brands in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, including, Ballygowan Water, Britvic,

Cidona Cidona is an Irish apple-based soft drink that has been on sale since 1955. It is popular in Ireland and has some sales in the United Kingdom. It was once produced by cider producers Bulmers (part of C&C) and comes in a distinctive green bot ...

MiWadi MiWadi is an Irish soft drink brand owned by Britvic, and formerly by Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C), bottled in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Its name comes from the initial letters of C&C's predecessor company, Mineral Water Distributors, which was f ...

, and Energise Sport as well as the rights to the Pepsi and 7 Up brands in the territory through its bottling agreements with PepsiCo.

France

Britvic bought Fruité Entreprises in May 2010 for £298 million. It has since renamed the business Britvic France. It is mainly a fruit juice business, unlike the GB&I businesses that focus on soft drinks.

Brazil

In 2015, Britvic acquired ebba (Empresa Brasileira de Bebidas e Alimentos SA), located in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

, and in 2017 Bela Ischia, located in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Current brands

Current brands are as follows: Dilutes * Robinsons *

(Ireland) * Dafruta (Brazil) Water * Aqua Libra * Arto LifeWTR * Ballygowan * Drench Carbonated soft drinks *

Club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

(Ireland) *

Purdey's Purdey's is a soft drink produced by Orchid Drinks Ltd. which is owned by Britvic. It is sold in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium. It is sold in 330ml brown glass Glass is a non-crystalline ...

* Britvic 55 * London Essence Company *

* TK (Taylor Keith) Lemonade (Republic of Ireland) * C&C Lemonade (Northern Ireland) * Energise (Ireland) *

Other * Bela Ischia (Brazil) * Energise Sport (Ireland) * Amé * J₂O * J₂O Spritz * Fruité (France) * Jus de Fruits (France) * Maguary (Brazil) * Maguary Fruit Shoot (Brazil) * Moulin De Valdonne (France) * Natural Tea (Brazil) * Pressade (France) * Puro Coco (Brazil) * Robinsons Fruit Shoot * Robinsons Fruit Shoot Hydro * Robinsons Fruit Shoot Juiced * Robinsons Refresh’d * Robinsons Fruit Creations * Robinsons Squash’d * Teisseire (France) * Teisseire Fruit Shoot (France) * Teisseire Fruit Shoot Au Jus (France) Licensed from PepsiCo *

7 UP 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up co ...

Lipton Ice Tea Lipton is a British brand of tea, owned by Ekaterra. Lipton was also a supermarket chain in the United Kingdom, later sold to Argyll Foods, after which the company sold only tea. The company is named after its founder, Sir Thomas Lipton, who fo ...

* Sobe V Water * Mountain Dew Energy *

(Great Britain) * Rockstar Energy

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control British brands British Royal Warrant holders Companies based in Chelmsford Companies based in Hemel Hempstead Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Drink companies of the United Kingdom Gatorade PepsiCo bottlers Soft drinks manufacturers Tango (drink) Whitbread former divisions and subsidiaries