AG Barr profit jumps, current sales ahead

22nd Mar 2010 07:19

Irn Bru maker AG Barr reported a 21% jump in full-year pre-tax profits and said current trading is ahead of the same period last year.Profit on ordinary activities before tax and exceptional items increased to £27.9m in the year ended 30 January from £23.1m last time. Turnover increased by 18.7% to £201.4m.Like for like sales, stripping out the impact of the Rubicon acquisition and the 53rd week in 2008/09, increased by 10.6%.The group proposed a final dividend of 16.85p per share to give a total dividend for the year of 23.1p per share, an increase of 10%.The IRN-BRU brand increased revenue by over 5% with strong growth in England and Wales, while Rubicon is performing ahead of expectations."We continue to face an uncertain economic outlook with the additional challenge of substantial operational changes across 2010/11. However, looking forward we remain confident in our ability to deliver against our strategy," said chief executive Roger White. "Our sales growth in the coming year faces some tough comparative performance from the prior year so it is pleasing to report that sales in the first seven weeks of the new financial year are ahead of the same period last year."