A.G. Barr has said that it expects annual profit to exceed pre-pandemic levels and beat current market expectations, with 'on the go' and hospitality sectors remaining particularly strong.
The company, best known for fizzy drink Irn-Bru, forecast both annual revenue and pretax profit ahead of current market expectations, despite ongoing near-term operating cost pressures.
'The positive trading momentum reported at our interim results in September has continued and sales have grown ahead of our expectations, across both our Barr Soft Drinks and Funkin business units,' the group said. 'In what remains a challenging supply chain environment, our production and wider supply chain have maintained their resilience and supported the growth in volume we are experiencing.'
Thumbs Up For Irn-Bru
Irn-Bru was in the spotlight earlier this month when Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon handed U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a can of the orange fizzy beverage at COP26 in Glasgow, with Ocasio-Cortez giving the cherished Scottish drink a thumbs-up.
A.G. Barr expects full-year revenue of about £264 million (€312.3 million) and profit before tax of around £41 million (€48.5 million) for the 12 months ending January 2022, compared with £26 million last year.
In September, the group reported a 'record' first -half profit. It also recently announced a number of board changes.
Expectations For Next Year
The company, which has seen a revival in demand since COVID-19 curbs were relaxed earlier in the year, said the fast-moving pandemic situation remains a risk but it still expects its revenue momentum to continue into 2022.
'As a result of our continued strong volume performance and despite ongoing near term operating cost pressures, we now anticipate both revenue and profit before tax for the full year to be ahead of current market expectations,' it said.
The emergence of a new variant of coronavirus late last week has raised questions of increased curbs ahead of Christmas, with Britain announcing some new measures to try and slow the spread.
News by Reuters, edited by ESM. For more A-Brands news, click here. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
