Revenue at drinks group Britvic increased by 14.6 per cent in the year to October despite conditions in the Irish market “constraining overall group growth”.

Britvic - whose brands include Robinsons, Tango, J2O, Ballygowan and Club - said revenues increased from £1.12 billion to £1.29 billion in the 12 months to October 2nd as it introduced new products to some of markets and counted a full trading year for Britvic France, which was acquired in May 2010.

Excluding France, where sales almost tripled to £244.7 million, Britvic recorded a 0.8 per cent increase in revenues.

Profits before tax for the year were largely flat at £105.1 million, compared to £104.6 million a year earlier, with the full year dividend per share rising by 6 per cent to 17p.

Group earnings before tax, interest and amortisation were up 4.3 per cent to £138.1 million.

Britvic said group net debt increased by 0.2 per cent to £452 million and underlying cash flow fell by 12.5 per cent to £59.3 million.

Britvic chief executive Paul Moody said the political, financial and social environment would remain challenging but that the firm was “confident in our ability to compete strongly and to deliver another solid set of results for the year ahead, in line with our expectations”.

Mr Moody said Britvic would be doubling coverage of its Fruit Shoot line in the US having agreed manufacturing deals to cover a total of six states.

"The announcement today...gives us material additional territories, new distribution partners and, significantly, an agreement with [Pepsi] to begin production in the US; important steps towards realising our ambitions for Fruit Shoot," Mr Moody said.

Despite noting that the Irish market was "constraining overall group growth" Britvic said its Mountain Dew Energy and Juicy Drench lines had performed ahead of expectations since their launch in Ireland.

Shares in Britvic, which have risen 14 per cent in the last three months, closed at £3.36 yesterday, valuing the company at around £812 million.