Revenues increased to £1,290.4m and group earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose by 4.3% to £138.1m - although margins narrowed to 10.7% from 11.8%.

CEO Paul Moody said: "Britvic has delivered a robust set of results, despite the particularly challenging economic backdrop in 2011.

"Our GB, France and International business units have each produced revenue and volume growth this year, leading to an increase in total group revenue of almost 15%.

"This performance reflects the strength of our brands and the quality of our innovation programme, as well as the continued focus on revenue management.

"We are particularly delighted with the progress that we have made with the internationalisation of Fruit Shoot.

"The announcement today of three major new agreements for this Britvic-owned brand in the United States gives us material additional territories, new distribution partners and, significantly, an agreement with PBV to begin production in the US; important steps towards realising our ambitions for Fruit Shoot.

"The political, financial and social environment in which we operate will remain challenging, but we are confident in our ability to compete strongly and to deliver another solid set of results for the year ahead, in line with our expectations."