FDBusiness.com

UK soft drinks group Britvic has appointed Simon Litherland as chief executive with immediate effect. Simon Litherland has been managing director of Britvic GB for more than a year, having joined from Diageo, where he held a series of domestic and international roles over 20 years, latterly as managing director of Diageo GB. Paul Moody, outgoing chief executive of Britvic, will retire from the company and will be available for six months on a consultancy basis to ensure a smooth handover.

Gerald Corbett, Britvic’s chairman, says: “Simon has an excellent track record and has done well with our GB business in the last year. He is ideally equipped to take the group to the next stage. I’d like to thank Paul for all he has done for Britvic over the last 16 years. It has been a long innings full of much success and we wish him well for the future.”

Simon Litherland, new chief executive of Britvic.

Simon Litherland says: “The immediate task is to build on the improving performance that we have seen in recent months. That will be my top priority.”

For the 2013 financial year, Britvic expects EBIT to be in the range of £125 million to £131 million, including the £8 million costs associated with the Fruit Shoot recall. Capital spend is anticipated to be in the range of £35 million to £45 million and pre-exceptional free cash flow generation to be a minimum of £70 million, leading to further debt reduction.

Meanwhile, the proposed merger between Britvic and rival UK soft drinks group AG Barr has been referred by the Office of Fair Trading to the Competition Commission due to concerns that the merger could reduce competition between certain brands of AG Barr and Britvic. AG Barr and Britvic believe that the merger will not result in a substantial lessening of competition and that they will be able to demonstrate this to the Competition Commission. The Competition Commission has until July 30 to report its findings.