Britvic said it would suspend its £75 million (€88.7 million) share buyback in light of Danish brewer Carlsberg's proposal to buy the British soft drinks maker.
Britvic had rejected a £3.11 billion (€3.7 billion) takeover proposal from Carlsberg last week.
Carlsberg is considering its options and said on Monday (24 June) that PepsiCo agreed to waive a clause in its bottling deal with Britvic, in a move that could pave the way for the Danish firm to raise its bid for the maker of Robinsons fruit cordial.
'This waiver will come into effect should an acquisition of Britvic by Carlsberg, which has the recommendation of Britvic's board, proceed to completion,' Carlsberg, which bottles Pepsi drinks in some markets, said.
The company will evaluate recommencement of the share repurchase programme should the circumstances change, it said.
Britvic shares fell 1.5% by 09:11 GMT on 25 June.
A 'Positive' Start
In January of this year, the soft drinks maker reported a 'positive' start to its financial year, with group revenue increasing 8.1% year on year to £443.5 million (€518.6 million) in the first quarter to 31 December 2023.
The company reported 'strong' Christmas trading as group revenue and volume increased 12.1% and 6.4%, repectively, in December.
The company saw 'robust performance' in Great Britain during the quarter, with revenue up 6.9% and both retail and hospitality channels witnessing growth.
In Brazil, its revenue increased by more than a fifth (21%), including the benefits of the acquisition of Extra Power energy drink last year.
The company appointed Vanshikrishna Suvarna as its new chief information and transformational officer to lead the IT, data and analytics function for the business as well as deliver cross-functional transformation programmes.
News by Reuters, additional reporting by ESM.
