AG Barr toasts full-year profit rise

25th Mar 2014 06:59

- Strong growth from carbonates segment- Outperforms soft drinks market- Confident outlook, lifts dividend 10 per centAG Barr served up an improved set of full-year earnings after particularly strong growth from its fizzy drinks segment and said is confident in its future prospects despite a challenging soft drinks market.The Scottish manufacturer of Irn-Bru, Rubicon and Strathmore water, said profit on ordinary activities, before tax and exceptional items, increased by 9.6% to £38.1m for the 12 months to January 26th 2014, while total turnover increased by 6.9% to £254.1m."The UK soft drinks market has performed relatively strongly across 2013, with the exceptionally hot weather in July and generally warm summer more than making up for a cold, wet start to the year," the group explained.Carbonates grew by 8.2% in overall value during the year while the total soft drinks market grew by 3.8% in value terms. Core Group brands; Irn-Bru, Rubicon and Barr, together with franchise brand Rockstar, delivered total revenue growth of 8%.The group, which saw the termination of the proposed merger with Britvic in 2013, said underlying earnings per share increased by 10.1% to 27.02p. Its total dividend for the year has been increased 10% to 11.02p per share.Chief Executive Roger White said: "It has been another year of significant progress which has seen us outperform the market and improve our conversion of sales into profit growth."The financial position of the group has grown stronger in the past 12 months and [...] the business has benefited hugely from the challenges of the past year, emerging stronger, fitter and more ambitious to develop. "Despite remaining cautious regarding the environment we operate in and the challenges we face, we are confident in our future prospects."CJ