Drinks firm AG Barr, the parent company of brands including IRN-BRU, Rubicon, Strathmore and Funkin, has said that 'challenging' market conditions are likely to see it post a decline in sales in the first half of the year.
In a trading statement, the company said that the UK soft drinks industry has posted a 0.8% decline in value sales in the first half of the year, and a volume decline of 0.4%.
'Consequently trading has been highly competitive but, despite this difficult market backdrop, we have maintained both value and volume overall market share,' it said.
'We anticipate revenue in the period of £125m, down 2.9% year on year on a like for like basis.'
The period saw the company unveil a series of new products, including a New IRN-BRU zero sugar variant and three other new lower sugar products.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones
