Pernod Ricard, the French drinks group, said it expected to sell Orangina-Pampryl, its soft drinks unit, to Cadbury Schweppes, the British group, before the Summer. The sale is part of a series of divestments by Pernod following the expensive purchase, at $ 3.15 billion, of Seagram drinks and spirits earlier this year. The group expects to yield at least E1bn ($923m) in total. Cadbury has been in talks with Pernod since September and is looking to buy both Orangina-Pampryl, which had sales of FFr2.8bn ($394m) last year, and Yoo-Hoo, a US chocolate drinks brand with sales of about $120m. News of the planned sale came as Pernod reported a 22 per cent rise in sales last year to E4.4bn.
