AG Barr hopeful of positive year

Irn-Bru soft drinks firm AG Barr overcame rising competition and poor summer weather to post a 27% hike in annual earnings today.

The UK-based firm, which is also behind brands such as Tizer and Strathmore water, said pre-tax profits for the year to January 28 rose to £20.8m (€26m).

Barr added that it was confident it will be able to deliver further growth despite a “challenging” economic climate.

The company’s optimism has been fuelled by a 3% rise in sales for the first nine weeks of the new financial year. Shares rose 5% today.

Investec analyst Nicola Mallard said: “Whilst predicting the UK summer weather is a fool’s game, we can hope that it will be no worse than last year.

“New additions to the portfolio should also assist in driving sales and price inflation could be a factor as higher glass and aluminium prices are passed through.”

She is looking for annual sales growth of 5% as year-on-year comparisons become easier over the summer. This will feed through to pre-tax profits of £22.3m (€28.2m), against previous hopes for a figure of around £21.7m (€27.5m).

The company employs 900 people with manufacturing and distribution sites at Cumbernauld, Mansfield and Pitcox near Edinburgh. Other drinks include D’N’B, and Orangina, which is produced under licence.