A successful relaunch of the Wispa chocolate bar has sweetened the fortunes of Birmingham-based Cadbury Schweppes, the confectionery maker said today.

The October move - and a marketing campaign featuring a gorilla drumming to a Phil Collins track - helped the company recover its share in a "buoyant" UK market.

But Cadbury's forecasts of better-than-expected confectionery revenue growth angered trade union Unite, which is campaigning against the company's plans to axe 500 jobs with the closure its factory in Keynsham, near Bristol, under a cost-cutting drive.

Unite's regional official Lydia Hayes said staff at the factory were "working flat out". She added: "This just shows that moving production to Poland is completely unnecessary. This is a very successful company who are getting far too greedy. They are showing contempt for their workforce at a time when they are delivering so much for them."

In June Cadbury unveiled plans to cut 7,800 jobs and close 15% of its factories worldwide.  Chief executive Todd Stitzer said today he was confident the "efficiency initiatives" and the confectionery growth - above the 4-6% range previously indicated - would give the group momentum next year despite an uncertain economic outlook and higher raw materials costs, which will be passed on to customers.

In the UK, Bournville-based Cadbury sold more than 20 million Wispa bars when they returned to the shelves after a four-year absence.  The Dairy Milk maker has benefited from a cooler summer and said it had made a positive start to the Christmas season, with sales of chewing gum brands such as Trident also strong.

The recovery of the UK chocolate business comes after a salmonella outbreak last year, for which the firm was fined £1 million in July. A total of 42 people fell ill in the first half of last year after the outbreak at its factory in Marlbrook, Herefordshire.

The company planned to sell its US drinks business, maker of Dr Pepper and 7Up, earlier this year but ditched plans after the credit crunch hit the ability of potential buyers to raise finance.

Cadbury is instead demerging the business - to be renamed Dr Pepper Snapple Inc - through a listing on the New York Stock Exchange. It said the new plans were on track.

Cadbury added that the overall performance of the American drinks business had  been good and expects like-for-like growth of between 4% and 5% despite challenging markets.

But the company also warned of a £30 million loss from the "disappointing" launch of its Accelerade sports drink in the US.

Panmure Gordon analyst Graham Jones said: "Cadbury has delivered impressive growth in confectionery. Beverage is also seeing good sales growth, but profits growth will be held back by the botched sports drink launch."