Cadbury Schweppes has announced a 7 per cent rise in its confectionery sales for the first quarter.

Its chewing gum products continued to experience growth, although the company conceded it had lost out in the Easter egg market having not taken part in the “aggressive seasonal discounting”.

“Revenues in the first quarter [were] driven by excellent performances from our gum and emerging market businesses and higher pricing to recover increased commodity costs,” commented chief executive Todd Stitzer.