Sales of soft drinks in the UK last year held up, despite the poor summer and economic crisis. The Britvic Soft Drinks Report 2009 reveals that UK sales totalled £8.4BN across all channels during the year; down just 1% in value and 2% in volume terms, compared to 2007. Based on independent data from Nielsen, the report shows that the strongest growth was seen in the sports and energy drinks sector with value and volume both up 12%, taking the category to a value of £552M. Carbonates also put in a strong performance: Cola grew 4% with regular Colas outperforming diet variants. Sales of smoothies and bottled water, however, experienced a decline. Smoothies saw a 15% drop in value sales as customers were unwilling to pay a price premium for their five-a-day. Bottle water suffered with sales dropping 9% to £417M, attributed to the poor summer.
