After a couple of bad weeks, the Spice Girls finally have something to shout about.

The soft drinks giant, Pepsi, has thrown its weight behind the feisty five, extending their sponsorship contract, reputedly worth £500,000.

The lucrative deal comes after the Spice Girls fired their manager, were booed at a Spanish awards ceremony and saw poor sales of their second album.

The group has taken on a long list of endorsements this year

The latest contract comes on top of a previous £1m endorsement contract from the soft drinks company.

The sacked manager, Simon Fuller, was believed to be the brains behind the Spice Girls' decision to promote any number of products without worrying about overexposure.

But even minus "Svengali Spice," the group seems to retain both the desire and the knack to become rich.

The Pepsi vote of confidence comes as the band prepare to play at the Smash Hits Poll Winners' Party in London on Wednesday.

They are doubtlessly hoping not to repeat the recent farrago in Barcelona, when the crowd became irritated by their demands that photographers should not take pictures of their performance.

And after that, their next major outing comes on December 15, when they release their first film, titled SpiceWorld.

The new Pepsi deal requires the group to contribute to a special CD, which may also include the all-female band, Eternal.

The Spice Girls recently opened their world tour with a concert for Pepsi competition winners in Istanbul, Turkey.

At a news conference there, Posh Spice Victoria Adams refused to answer questions about her footballer boyfriend Dave Beckham.

But, she said: "He drinks Pepsi."

The group's commercial manager, Robert Dodds, broke the news of the latest deal in Marketing magazine.

He said: "We always anticipated there would be some people who would say, 'They've gone too far, they've sold out.'

"But the girls will surprise a few people over the next months."

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