Soft drinks company Britvic will be taken over by multinational brewer Carlsberg for £3.3bn, with the merged company to be named Carlsberg Britvic.

Retailers have said they are concerned of cost cutting, cutting down of representatives and bigger companies dominating the market.

Jimmy Patel, owner of Jimmy’s Store in Northampton, said: “If they start streamlining, maybe sending one rep out for both categories, that’s where it becomes a bit worrying, because they could start cost cutting. A lot of big companies, when they take over a company it will be to cost save and make money for themselves. It’s not about what they can do for us, but about how much more money they can make.”

Patel gave the example of the Booker-Tesco merger: “They’ve got buyers in Tesco and Booker, but if they have one buyer for everything it saves them a lot of money.”

“So, it’s their saving, not our saving. I never see anything filtered down to us. Domination in the market can be another concern – they get too powerful, it’s another player taken out the market. You might see that they want to take over Pepsi or something afterwards, and that’s another player swallowed up.”

Change in processes

Aman Uppal, of One Stop Mount Nod in Coventry, said a larger brand-takeover may “drastically change processes”, “in terms of how it works with retailers or how much support is offered”.

He continued: “It’s interesting times. Britvic is already an established brand and being partnered with PepsiCo in the UK meant it was already operating on a global level. I have a fantastic relationship with Britvic and great support. I hope that this move doesn’t affect that. On the other hand, I don’t have a relationship with Carlsberg and maybe this presents an opportunity to make inroads there.”

Bay Bashir, of Bell Vue Convenience in Middlesbrough, added: “I have a minimum level of support from both companies so, for me as a retailer, it’s not a huge concern which company takes over. That said, availability is key to good soft drink sales and so as long as there aren’t any changes there, I’ll be happy.”   

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