The earliest Easter for 95 years could not have passed quickly enough for Cadbury Schweppes, which revealed yesterday that its share of the British chocolate market had fallen during one of its most important trading seasons.

Cadbury blamed the short build-up to Easter and fierce price wars on the high street for the knock to its Dairy Milk and Creme Eggs empire. Ken Hanna, the finance director, said that the group had chosen to protect profit margins rather than chase volumes after being asked by big retailers to cut prices to entice shoppers.

More than 180 million Creme Eggs were sold in the UK despite a price rise of 3p, but Cadbury's share of a chocolate market it dominates fell by 80 basis points. Mr Hanna said: “Certain retailers use Easter eggs as a footfall driver, just like over the summer, when they use beer to get people into the stores. They wanted a large amount of supply at a very low price, and it just made no economic sense at all. We would have lost money.”

He added that the biggest winners over Easter were smaller players, such as Lindt. “Ourselves, Nestlé and Mars all lost share,” he said. “Disciplined companies make disciplined decisions.”

Cadbury has suffered from a string of problems in the UK in recent years, including the fall out from a salmonella outbreak two years ago that forced the group to recall more than a million chocolate bars.

Mr Hanna insisted that Cadbury still had a “good Easter”, with revenues across its confectionery business worldwide up by 7 per cent in the three months to March. UK confectionery sales were 3 per cent up on a year ago. However, shares in Cadbury fell 15.5p to 563p amid disappointment over slower than expected sales growth in the Dr Pepper beverages business, which the group is spinning off on the New York Stock Exchange.

Revenue at the business, to be called Dr Pepper Snapple Group after the demerger next month, rose by 3 per cent during the quarter but by only 1 per cent once the benefit of acquisitions was stripped out.

Shareholders gave an overwhelming 99.75 per cent backing to Cadbury's demerger plans at the group's annual meeting yesterday, paving the way for what will be the biggest shake-up at the group since Cadbury bought Schweppes in 1969.

Cadbury was forced to pursue a demerger last October after the onset of the credit crunch forced it to ditch plans for a £6.5billion sale.

The company said yesterday that despite the continuing turmoil in the financial markets, it had managed to raise $4.4 billion (£2.2 billion) of debts and loans for the beverage business. It has syndicated a $2.2 billion term loan and a $500 million revolving facility among 35 banks.Mr Hanna said that further price rises on chocolate products could not be ruled out.

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