Britvic, the publicly-quoted UK soft drinks company, has announced a 6% increase in Irish revenues on a constant currency basis - rising to £132m (€155m).

The group, which owns the Ballygowan and Miwadi brands here has also announced it is to purchase the Dundalk-based drinks wholesaler, East Coast Suppliers for an undisclosed sum.

Britvic says it will become the second largest wholesale distributor in the country following the transaction.

The company reports that a move towards sugarless drinks has helped to fuel this growth - it says that it has 30% of the sugarless drink market - 60% of Britvic Ireland’s sales are now in the low and no sugar segment.

The results state that Ballygowan water continued to significantly outperform the market and contributed to its Irish growth more than any other brand. 

The Irish division has now recorded 6 consecutive quarters of growth.

Simon Litherland, Chief Executive Officer commented: "Britvic has delivered another strong set of results in challenging market conditions. In our core markets, we continued to take market share with a particularly strong carbonates performance.

"Internationally, we have had an excellent first year in Brazil and Fruit Shoot continued to grow in France, USA with the launch of multi-pack, and latterly in Brazil following its recent launch in Sao Paulo."