Britvic sales dragged down by Robinsons Fruit Shoot recall The £16.9m recall of the drinks, one of Britvic's biggest brands, was sparked by a six-year-old choking on a "spill-proof" plastic cap and saw the company withdraw product from Britain, France and other European export markets. Britvic warned in its full-year statement, which posted a year-on-year pre-tax profit slump of 20pc to £84.4m from £105.1m, that the eventual financial impact could reach £25m. Limited trade of Fruit Shoot following the recall dragged revenues at Britvic's UK stills drinks unit down 8.4pc on 2011, offsetting the 3.1pc sales uptick in the company's larger fizzy beverage division. "In some respects, this has been a difficult year for the group and the progress that we made was more than offset by the impact of the Fruit Shoot product recall," said Paul Moody, chief executive. Additionally, the negative macro-economic trends leading to weak consumer confidence and the cold, wet summer endured across most of our markets, weighed heavily on the soft drinks market and Britvic within it. The FTSE 250 company, which this month agreed a merger with Irn-Bru manufacturer AG Barr to create one of Europe's largest soft drinks groups, said it on track to re-introduce the Fruit Shoot brand to the market, expecting to return to full production by January 2013.