Monday Interview: Simon Litherland, Britvic CEO Britvic's smaller Scottish rival had pounced just as the group was reeling from the embarrassing recall of its most popular kids" brand, Fruit Shoot. A faulty new cap had been found to be a choking hazard. The recall cost Britvic £25m and, after a few years of less than sparkling performance, proved the final straw for shareholders. By November 2012, Britvic chairman Gerald Corbett was signing off on an all-share merger that pretty much amounted to a management coup by the team of Barr boss Roger White. Britvic's then chief executive Paul Moody and Litherland were both on their way out the door. Was it Litherland's decision to go? "No it wasn't," he says. I had conversations with Gerald. I don't want to get into what he said. It was tough. I'd joined the business as Paul's successor. I'd left Diageo to do that. So I found myself in a challenging place. Did he curse he'd joined Britvic? "You know, my character is always very much to look forward rather than back," he says. I'd learnt a lot in the 12, 13, 14 months here. So I didn't regret it. His positive approach paid off. In February the soft drinks experts at the Office of Fair Trading took the decision to refer the Barr merger to the Competition Commission. Corbett was apoplectic. But the referral forced a Plan B. Litherland got another call from the chairman - this time to be given the CEO's job. The whole episode could have soured their relationship. But Litherland insists: "My relationship with Gerald is fantastic. The merger at that time was absolutely the right thing to do - we'd just had the Fruit Shoot recall and a couple of years of financial performance which wasn't stellar and the merger was a solution. The fact that we came up with a stronger solution and Gerald had the courage to look at alternatives while all this was going on is a credit to him. As for Corbett, he says: "I said to Simon he had more experience than Roger White but he didn't have £40m of synergies, so he'd have to make way for him. After the ambulance man had put the oxygen mask on, he took it really well. Corbett chuckles. The thing is we knew the merger might not go through so we kept a dialogue going. It meant that when it got referred I could ring Simon up and tell him he'd had a salary rise. He's done really well - he's direct, charismatic and has pretty much doubled the share price. Corbett had been impressed by Litherland's own plan for Britvic, not least finding £30m of annualised cost cuts internally that largely compensated for the synergies from the Barr deal - and investing £10m of them in overseas expansion. Part of the savings come from closing two of Britvic's six UK factories - the Drench water plant in Huddersfield and a factory at Chelmsford. They will shut in February or March next year, with the loss of 300 to 400 jobs, about 10pc to 15pc of the workforce. Litherland had spotted excess manufacturing capacity across the group, one result of which is the end of the Drench water brand - though the flavoured Juicy Drench drinks will continue. Britvic will now focus on Ballygowan, its other water brand produced in Ireland, where the factory has spare capacity. "We don't need to have two waters in the portfolio," he says. It's all part of what Litherland sees as "the opportunity to simplify the business, make it more focused and, as a result, take some costs out. We're starting off with a fantastic portfolio of brands, the growth opportunities are huge and we've got an exciting new strategy. Apart from cost cuts, Litherland is pushing "asset-lite" overseas expansion, dependent he says on finding the right international partners. Next summer, Britvic will bring Fruit Shoot to India following a distribution tie-up with the family-controlled Narang Group, already a joint-venture partner to Danone and Suntory. Litherland, a father of nine-year-old twins, says he's been "too busy" even to visit India yet, though is well-versed on the new mango-flavoured Fruit Shoot. "Mango is the big flavour in India, and we adapt our flavours for local tastes," he says. Another part of the strategy is heavier spending on Britvic's "underinvested" brands. The full-year results in a fortnight's time are expected to signal a higher marketing budget, though Litherland won't say how much. Robinsons got a boost from its Wimbledon sponsorship, though he admits it had nothing to do with the winner. "It was great to see Andy Murray win but I don't think you can put it down to that," he says. Is Murray a Robinsons fan? "I've no idea," laughs Litherland, who grew up in Zimbabwe, the son of an entrepreneur father and a former "finance director at Lonhro during the good old days." With a bottling agreement in place until 2023 to distribute Pepsi and 7UP in Britain and Ireland, Britvic has "also had some strong Pepsi advertising," with Beyonce and [magician] Dynamo, plus a promotion with the X Factor. Does he get to meet these people? "No," he says. Who wouldn't want to meet Beyonce, Dynamo and the X Factor finalists? But that's not my job. The result of all this activity is that when the regulators eventually cleared the Barr merger in July and the Irn Bru maker returned with a sweetened deal, Britvic could turn it away. "We're in a completely different place now," says Litherland. If you look at the share price, it was down to 256p at the Fruit Shoot recall. Today it's over £6. Shareholders are confident in the strategy. So, there's no place now for rival White? "We're in a similar industry, so undoubtedly we'll bump into each other at certain industry gatherings," says Litherland with a grin. But mergers are definitely off the agenda. Simon Litherland CV Position chief executive Britvic Age 49 Family Married with twin children Career 20 years at Diageo (and forerunner GrandMet), starting in finance department and including leading its Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary operations, running Bailey's supply chain in Dublin and a business in South Africa. Joined Britvic in September 2011 as managing director of GB business, becoming CEO in February 2013. Book The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Zander and Ben Zander Film Dead Poets Society Music David Bowie Hobbies playing and watching sport