AG Barr, the soft drinks company, has reported a 6.6% rise in turnover to £237.6m in the year to 26 January, and says its operations will continue “unabated” while it waits the outcome of a Competition Commission investigation into its planned merger with Britvic.
Profit on ordinary activities before tax and exceptional items increased 4.3% to £35m and underlying earnings per share increased by 10.9%. AG Barr said its core brands Irn-Bru, Barr, Rubicon and KA will grew in the period, while its new brand Rockstar “performed particularly strongly”.
Carbonates revenue grew 7.1% in the year, with volumes up 6%. The stills category grew 4.3% by revenue and 4.1% by volume.
Plans to open a new production and warehouse facility at Crossley, Milton Keynes, are “progressing to plan” and are expected to be operational in the summer of 2013
Roger White, chief executive, said: “AG Barr has delivered a robust financial performance and continued to grow well ahead of the UK soft drinks market in the period. This once more proves the resilience of our operating model and the potential of our brands. Across the year, market conditions have remained difficult, specifically impacted by poor summer weather and further cost of goods inflation.
“Despite the added distraction of the merger discussions with Britvic plc, the business has remained focused and delivered all of the ‘business as usual’ operating plans across the year.
“We are now entering a period of significant workload associated with the Competition Commission enquiry, however the AG Barr board considers there to be a compelling rationale for clearance and that the benefits of the transaction remain significant for both shareholder groups.
“While we await the Competition Commission’s findings, we will continue to build and develop our plans to ensure the long term success of AG Barr as a standalone business. Our new operating capacity at Milton Keynes will come on-stream during the summer of 2013 and our investment in our brands and sales execution activities will continue unabated. We remain confident in our future prospects both as a standalone business and combined with Britvic plc.”
