Despite difficult financial times, energy drinks show robust growth in Europe, according to a new report by Canadean. This is due to flavour and ingredient innovations, as well as the emergence of low calorie options that meet the needs of a small but growing health conscious consumer group.

According to the report, the European energy drinks market is expected to increase by 4.9% to reach close to 550 million litres in 2015.

"Energy drinks are highly submerged in peoples daily routines, which might be one of the reasons why they are so resilient in countries wher other categories such as carbonates and beer have been continually declining," says Angela Wynne, analyst at Canadean.

Even in countries like Greece and Russia, wher consumers spend less on beverages due to the economic circumstances, energy drink volumes have stayed stable.

The report finds that the widening range of flavours and product extensions are the main drivers behind the continued expansion of energy drinks. Nevertheless, energy drinks remain a niche market, accounting for less than 0.1% of total beverage consumption.

The volume of fruit flavoured products has increased by around 11% in recent years, with new flavours such as orange, mojito, lemon-lime or pineapple-lime being launched. Meanwhile, low calorie energy drinks have also increased by 11.6% across Europe.