Britvic was a British producer of

soft drink A soft drink (see #Terminology, § Terminology for other names) is a class of non-alcoholic drink, usually (but not necessarily) Carbonated water, carbonated, and typically including added Sweetness, sweetener. Flavors used to be Natural flav ...

s based in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

, England. It produced soft drinks under its own name, as well as several other brands. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

until it was acquired by

Carlsberg Group Carlsberg A/S (; ) is a Danish multinational brewer. Founded in 1847 by J. C. Jacobsen, the company's headquarters is in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since Jacobsen's death in 1887, the majority owner of the company has been the Carlsberg Foundation. Th ...

and integrated into Carlsberg's UK operations as part of

Carlsberg Britvic Carlsberg Britvic is a British subsidiary of Carlsberg Group, created in January 2025 by the merger of Carlsberg's UK business (including the former Marston's plc breweries) and Britvic, acquired by Carlsberg Group in 2024. History In 2020, Ma ...

in January 2025.

History

The company was founded in the 1930s in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

as the ''British Vitamin Products Company''. It started producing fruit juices in 1938 and started marketing them under the ''Britvic'' name in 1949. Acquired by Showerings of

Shepton Mallet Shepton Mallet is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England, some southwest of Bath, Somerset, Bath, south of Bristol and east of Wells, Somerset, Wells. It had an estimated population of 10,810 in 2019. ...

, and subsequently a division of

Allied Breweries Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The b ...

from 1968, the company changed its name to ''Britvic'' in 1971. In 1986, it merged with ''Canada Dry Rawlings'' and acquired the R. White's Lemonade brand. It acquired

Tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

and the

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

brand from

Beechams The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Founded by Thomas Beecham who opened the first factory in St Helens, Lancashire in 1859, Beecham focused on marketing the business by ...

in 1987 and since that year it has also owned the UK franchise for

Pepsi Pepsi is a Carbonated water, carbonated soft drink with a cola flavor, manufactured by PepsiCo which serves as its flagship product. In 2023, Pepsi was the second most valuable soft drink brand worldwide behind Coca-Cola; the two share a long ...

and

7 Up 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

. In 1995, it bought Robinson's from

Reckitt & Colman Reckitt Benckiser Group PLC, currently branded as Reckitt, formerly known as Reckitt Benckiser, is a British multinational consumer goods company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom. It is a producer of health, hygiene and nutrition produ ...

. In December 2005, the company underwent an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

(IPO), allowing its main shareholders (

InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), marketed as IHG Hotels & Resorts, is a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Windsor, Berkshire, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange. It ...

Whitbread Whitbread is a British multinational hotel and restaurant company headquartered in Houghton Regis, England. The business was founded as a brewery in 1742 by Samuel Whitbread in partnership with Godfrey and Thomas Shewell, with premises in L ...

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or '' Ricard''). The world's second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

) to realise their investments. In May 2007, the Company bought the soft drinks and distribution businesses of Ireland's Cantrell & Cochrane (C&C) for £169.5m. On 14 November 2012, the company announced plans to merge with

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

soft drink producer

A.G. Barr A.G. Barr p.l.c, commonly known as Barr's, is a Scottish soft drink and energy drink manufacturer based in Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, Scotland widely known for manufacturing the drink Irn-Bru. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange ( ...

, the maker of brands including

Irn-Bru Irn-Bru ( "iron brew", ) is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, often described as "Scotland's other national drink" after Scotch whisky. Introduced in 1901, the drink is produced in Westfield, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire, by A.G. Barr of ...

Tizer Tizer is a red-coloured, citrus-flavoured soft drink bottled and sold in the UK. The name originally comes from the original name, "Pickup's Appetiser". It was launched in 1924 by Fred and Tom Pickup of Birtle, Bury when it was known as "Picku ...

and D'n'B, which would have created one of Europe's largest soft drinks companies. The merger was put into serious doubt after the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economi ...

referred it to the

Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...

. On 11 July 2013, A.G. Barr chairman, Ronnie Hanna, announced that the proposed merger had been abandoned. In May 2017,

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase, New York, Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the f ...

announced that it had decided to sell its long-held 4.5 per cent stake in Britvic. On 8 July 2024, it was announced that the Danish

would buy Britvic. Upon completion, Britvic will rebrand under the Carlsberg umbrella, with the brewery company becoming the biggest PepsiCo drink licenser in the world. The transaction was approved by the court on 15 January 2025, so allowing it to complete. Britvic was incorporated into Carlsberg's existing UK business Carlsberg Marston's, and the whole business was renamed Carlsberg Britvic on 17 January 2025.

Operations

Most of the company's operations are concentrated in the United Kingdom and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and the company exports to over 50 countries. Its corporate headquarters moved from Chelmsford, Essex to Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, in March 2012.

United Kingdom

The drink brands the company owns in the UK include Britvic mixers, R. White's Lemonade,

, Robinson's and J₂O – as well as being the licensed bottler for PepsiCo products within the UK. In 2008, Britvic launched

Gatorade Gatorade is an American brand of sports-themed beverage and food products, built around its signature line of sports drinks. The drink is owned and manufactured by PepsiCo and is distributed in over 80 countries. The beverage was develope ...

in the UK, after securing the rights to do so from

. In May 2010, Britvic launched a UK specific version of the popular drink, Mountain Dew Energy. It tastes similar to its American counterpart, but has a lower caffeine and sugar content.

Ireland

After their failed IPO C&C's sold their soft drink brands to Britvic, resulting in the company now owning a number of brands in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, including, Ballygowan Water, Britvic,

Cidona Cidona is an Irish apple-based soft drink that has been on sale since 1955. It is popular in Ireland and has some sales in the United Kingdom. It was once produced by cider producers Bulmers (part of C&C) and comes in a distinctive green bott ...

MiWadi MiWadi is an Irish soft drink brand owned by Britvic, and formerly by Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C), bottled in Dublin, Cork and Belfast. Its name comes from the initial letters of C&C's predecessor company, Mineral Water Distributors, which was ...

, and Energise Sport as well as the rights to the Pepsi and 7 Up brands in the territory through its bottling agreements with PepsiCo.

France

Britvic bought Fruité Entreprises in May 2010 for £298 million. It has since renamed the business Britvic France. It is mainly a fruit juice business, unlike the GB&I businesses that focus on soft drinks.

Brazil

In 2015, Britvic acquired ebba (Empresa Brasileira de Bebidas e Alimentos SA), located in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, and in 2017 Bela Ischia, located in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

Current brands

Current brands are as follows: Dilutes *

Robinsons Robinsons or Robinson's may refer to: Businesses Department stores * Robinsons Malls, shopping mall and retail operator in the Philippines * Robinsons, former department store chain owned by Robinson & Co. in Singapore and Malaysia * Robinson Dep ...

* BritviC *

(Ireland) * Ebba (Brazil) * Dafruta (Brazil) * Maguary (Brazil) Water * Aqua Libra * Arto LifeWTR * Ballygowan * Drench Carbonated soft drinks *

Club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * ...

(Ireland) *

Purdey's Purdey's is a soft drink produced by Orchid Drinks Ltd. which was acquired by Britvic in 2000. It is sold in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands and Belgium. It is sold in 330ml brown glass bottles with a silver ...

* Britvic 55 * London Essence Company * R. White's Lemonade * TK (Taylor Keith) Lemonade (Republic of Ireland) * C&C Lemonade (Northern Ireland) * Energise (Ireland) *

Other * Bela Ischia (Brazil) * Energise Sport (Ireland) * Amé * J₂O * J₂O Spritz * Fruité (France) * Maguary (Brazil) * Maguary Fruit Shoot (Brazil) * Moulin De Valdonne (France) * Natural Tea (Brazil) * Pressade (France) * Puro Coco (Brazil) * Robinsons Fruit Shoot * Robinsons Fruit Shoot Hydro * Robinsons Fruit Shoot Juiced * Robinsons Refresh’d * Robinsons Fruit Creations * Robinsons Squash’d * Teisseire (France) * Teisseire Fruit Shoot (France) * Teisseire Fruit Shoot Au Jus (France) Licensed from PepsiCo *

7 UP 7 Up (stylized as 7UP worldwide) or Seven Up is an American brand of Lemon-lime drink, lemon-lime–flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper, although the beverage is internationally distributed ...

Lipton Ice Tea Lipton is a brand named after its founder, Sir Tom Lipton, who started an eponymous grocery retail business in the United Kingdom in 1871. The brand was used for various consumer goods sold in Lipton stores, including tea from 1890 for which ...

* Sobe V Water * Mountain Dew Energy *

(Great Britain) *

Rockstar Energy Rockstar (stylized as ROCKST★R or ЯR) is a brand of energy drinks created in 2001, which had a 10% market share of the global energy drink market in 2020, the third-highest after Red Bull and Monster Energy. Rockstar is based in Purchase, Ne ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control British brands British royal warrant holders Companies based in Chelmsford Companies based in Hemel Hempstead Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Drink companies of the United Kingdom Gatorade PepsiCo bottlers Soft drinks manufacturers Tango (drink) Whitbread former divisions and subsidiaries