UK-based soft drinks producer, Britvic plc (LON:BVIC), saw its share price fall on Thursday as it announced the sale of three of its bottling facilities in France.
The company confirmed that having received approval from the French Competition Authority in July, it has now completed the sale of its its juice assets in France to Refresco.
The company said that the sale includes the three juice manufacturing sites, the related private label juice business and the Fruité brand.
Britvic stated that it has retained the ownership of the Pressade and Fruit Shoot brands, which it said would be manufactured by Refresco as part of a long-term partnership.
It continued by saying that this transaction will not impact its Teisseire and Moulin De Valdonne brands, or the private label syrups business, all of which are made at its production site in Crolles.
The company’s statement continued by saying that:
“This transaction supports our stated strategic priority to improve operating margins in our Western European markets, while also enables our teams to focus on growing our soft drinks portfolio of local favourite and global premium brands.”
Following the update, the company’s shares dipped by 6.27% or 51.50p, to 769.50p a share 01/10/20 13:00 GMT. This is shy of analysts’ consensus target price of 880.91p a share, which would represent a 14% upside on its current level.
At present, the Marketbeat community has a 54.23% ‘Underperform’ stance on the stock, with the company’s p/e ratio standing at 13.73, just above the consumer defensive sector average of 13.64.