Bottles of Cott ginger ale move down the bottling line a the company's plant in Mississauga
Cott Corp. , the largest Canadian-based soft-drink maker, says its profits slipped in the third quarter as revenue moved higher on stronger orders.
The Toronto-based producer of store-branded pop, which reports in U.S. dollars, said profit dropped to $9.7-million (U.S.) or 9 cents per share for the period ended Oct. 2.
That's down from $15.2-million a year earlier or 18 cents per share in the comparable period ended Sept. 26.
The company reported that profit was $21-million when excluding expenses and adjustments related to its acquisition of Cliffstar Corp. and its line of juices, trendy waters and teas.
Revenue rose to $490.6-million from $404.9-million, with about $80-million coming from Cliffstar, which was acquired during the quarter.
"New business wins and a more modest national brand promotional environment drove higher volumes in North America, alongside continued growth in Mexico and (Royal Crown International)," said chief executive officer Jerry Fowden in a release.
"Additionally, the U.K. continued its prior trend of double-digit growth in the energy and sports isotonic categories."
In North America, the company reported that revenues were up 31 per cent on stronger soft drink orders mostly from new business agreements made earlier in the year.
Revenue in the U.K. was down 5 per cent on foreign exchange losses, but up 2 per cent when filtering out those effects.
In Mexico, revenue jumped 20 per cent on new business contracts.