REFILE-FACTBOX-Facts about Cadbury

(Refiles to correct revenue figure of 5.4 bln pounds in par 2 to full year, not Q1)

June 18 (Reuters) - British confectionery group Cadbury (CBRY.L) reported a pick-up in April and May trading and looked forward to a stronger second half, helped by new product launches for its chocolate, gum and candy.

Following are key facts about Cadbury:

* The world's second-largest confectionery group, after Mars-Wrigley. The London-based maker of Dairy Milk chocolate, Trident gum and Halls cough drops saw a 30 percent rise in 2008 pretax profits to 559 million pounds. But it reported a slow start to 2009 with sales up 2 percent in the first-quarter. Cadbury posted 2008 revenue of 5.4 billion pounds ($8.86 billion) and an underlying operating profit of 638 million pounds.

* The demerger of Cadbury Schweppes Plc in May 2008 created the London-listed confectionery group Cadbury Plc, and a soft drinks group, Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS.N). The group faced pressure to demerge in 2007 after activist investor Nelson Peltz built up a 3 percent stake and urged the group to decide to split in order to unlock more value.

* In March, Cadbury sold its Australian beverage business Schweppes Australia to Asahi Breweries (2502.T), Japan's largest beer maker, for A$1.185 billion ($769.5 million), completing its exit from soft drinks.

* Cadbury had become the world's biggest confectionery group in 2003 when it bought the U.S. Adams chewing gum business for $4.2 billion. But since 1999 it had been selling off its non-core soft drinks business. Lion and Blackstone had bought its continental European business for 1.85 billion euros in February 2006.

* In July 2007 a UK court fined the company 1 million pounds for selling unsafe chocolate in Britain and Ireland during 2006 in a salmonella health scare. The company had recalled in June 2006 more than one million chocolate bars in the UK and Irish markets because they could contain minute traces of salmonella. It estimated the recall cost at 30 million pounds.

* The origins of Cadbury go back to 1824 when John Cadbury opened a shop in Birmingham, UK, selling tea and cocoa. In 1969 Cadbury merged with Schweppes to create Cadbury Schweppes. Cadbury now operates in over 60 countries and employs more than 45,000 people.