Britvic: ‘no suppliers dropped’ over Fruit Shoot recall

According to reports in The Grocer over the weekend, Britvic was understood to have stopped working with Austrian-based rigid plastics Alpla, supplier of the ‘Magicaps’ at the centre of the recall.

However, a Britvic spokeswoman told Packaging News today that this information was “inaccurate”. She added: “We have not stopped working with anyone as our investigations are ongoing.”

As PN published this story this morning, no spokesperson from Alpla was available to comment.

The firm, which has today released its third-quarter results, said it had now identified a market proven alternative to the Magicaps but, unable to begin supply for six weeks, it would be four to five months before normal service resumed.

A Britvic spokeswoman did not provide any updates to PN as to who would be the new supplier of the caps.

Britvic owns the trademark for Magicap, which was introduced to Fruit Shoots in May. Last month, the cap won an award at the Starpack Industry Awards and was lauded for its “unique design”. All references to the product have now been removed from the Starpack website.

The Evening Standard reported what Britvic packaging design and artwork manager Tim Lynch said to the Starpack Awards last month.

He said: “The new bottle and label graphics are part of the Fruit Shoot relaunch but the most important part of the pack and the reason it won the award, is the Magicap non-spill cap that prevents both accidental and deliberate spillage.

“The liquid can only be released when put in the child’s mouth, no matter how much squeezing of the bottle, it can be squirted nor can it leak when lying on its side.”

Revenue in the UK fell by 6.9%, decreasing total group revenue by around 5% in the three months to end of July.

Background

Earlier this month, Britvic pulled all Robinsons Fruit Shoot lines after the spout of the new sports caps – introduced in May – came off in a six-year-old boy’s mouth, causing him to choke. Although he came to no harm, Britvic was forced to revise the cost of the recall from an initial estimate of up to £5m to £25m.

The Fruit Shoot recall has cut around 2% off group revenue.

The poor weather and adverse channel mix has materially affected the performance of J₂O in the quarter, while Robinsons has shown encouraging market share gains in the last 12 weeks, according to the firm.

International

Elsewhere, the firm said that the Fruit Shoot recall has materially impacted the export markets of the business unit, especially in the Netherlands and Belgium. However, it reported strong progress of Fruit Shoot in the USA, which is unaffected by the recall.

‘Extremely challenging’

Britvic chief executive Paul Moody said: “The third-quarter has been extremely challenging for Britvic.

“The weak consumer environment and very disappointing weather at a key time for soft drink sales have had a marked impact on our performance. The decision to recall Fruit Shoot resulted in a further negative impact towards the end of the quarter.

“As announced last week, these events caused us to re-set our expectations for the full year and our guidance remains unchanged.

“In the foreseeable future, our resources will be fully focused on re-establishing Fruit Shoot in the market as soon as possible.

“Our other key priorities are to drive an improved performance from the strong brands across the group, ensure that we build and realise the value of our emerging US Fruit Shoot business and underpin the profitability of the company, with a strong emphasis on cash generation and rigorous cost management.”