Carlsberg Britvic is not ruling out the possibility of further acquisitions on the Britvic side once a long-term strategy has been laid out by the business, which was only established in January.
Carlsberg completed the acquisition of Britvic for £3.3bn at the start of the year, and this follows Britvic’s acquisitions of plant-based drinks firm Plenish in 2021, as well as ice-coffee brand Jimmy’s Iced Coffee in 2023.
Chief executive of the newly created Carlsberg Britvic, Paul Davies, said: “We look with excitement at the way the Britvic business is set up to manage more brands and get benefit from scale. We will look at breakthrough brands in the future and it gives us great confidence that the Brtivic business we have inherited seems to be very successful at nurturing small brands into a stronger future, which is quite unusual. So we’re playing a hands-off role not to jeopardise that.”
Regarding foodservice wholesale logistics and distribution, vice president of on-trade sales, Chris Pratt didn’t rule out the alcohol and soft drinks companies taking advantage of each other established frameworks: “We’ve got two big portfolios, which is a strength. So, we’re doing work to understand how our portfolios fit together and which parts are right for which channels.”
Read more: Carlsberg completes Britvic merger
They were speaking at the launch of the Britvic Soft Drinks Review 2025, which revealed the following insights:
Foodservice
· Soft drinks are playing an important role in foodservice’s recovery from the challenges of recent years,[1] growing by 2% to £2.9bn in 2024 alone[2]
· It highlights Gen Z[3] as one of the generations fuelling this growth, with tap water and packaged hydration offers like flavoured waters and iced tea now making up 31% of everything this generation drinks – up 2.1% points since 2019, and 6% points higher than the average consumer in the UK[4]
· It revealed huge opportunities for growth for foodservice outlets by tapping into new ways to entice Gen Z through soft drinks, particularly those that fall into the ‘treat’ category – now a key consideration for consumers, particularly younger, generally more health-conscious people who, when they do decide to treat themselves, want pure indulgence
Convenience
· Glucose, sport and stimulant drinks are the biggest soft drinks sectors for the UK’s convenience retailers,[5], accounting for £1.67bn in sales in 20242
· It reveals that energy drinks shoppers are key to soft drinks sales for convenience retailers. Not only do they shop more frequently and buy more items in store than average soft drinks shoppers, but they also spend significantly more (£11.86 per trip versus £8.99)[6]
· The latest report unveils the seven-step strategy that Carlsberg Britvic has developed for retailers who want to meet the growing demands of soft drinks consumers. By following these seven steps to success, Carlsberg Britvic calculates that the convenience channel can drive soft drinks sales growth worth a staggering £225m,1 which equates roughly to £5k per store1
[1] IGD, Grocery Retailing and Eating out Forecasts to 2029, June 24
[2] CGA by NielsenIQ, Foodservice, Volume and Value Data, Soft Drinks Britvic Defined, MAT to 31.12.2024
[3] Beresford Research: https://www.beresfordresearch.com/age-range-by-generation/ – Gen z comprises people born between 1997 and 2012,[3]
[4] Kantar In Home Usage Panel (52 weeks), August 2024
[5] Nielsen IQ, Total Convenience, Total Soft Drinks Britvic Defined, Value sales, 52WE 04.01.25
[6] Lumina Intelligence Convenience Tracking Programme, Soft Drinks Shopper vs Energy Drink Shopper, MAT 05.01.25 vs YA
