Just reviewing the Annual Report - one comment that share price 31st March 1982 was 78.3p (they clearly have a lot of long term holders like me who one day may have CGT calculation to work out). Today around 14 and lots of divis along the way. All done on own generated cash. Sensible strategic move to buy Strathmore Water last year (press comment recently that Coca Cola looking at Highland Spring) - main Barr product is IRN BRU. Big operational improvements made in 2006 should provide springboard IMO for continued growth and mine remain locked away.Always DYOR

Irn Bru maker AG Barr signals end to bottle returns

Interim Results

Key Points

· Total turnover was £130.3m (2014: £135.7m). Adjusting for the impact of discontinued business, turnover from ongoing business, including the recently acquired Funkin Limited ("Funkin"), declined 2.8%

· Adjusted* profit on ordinary activities before tax, interest and exceptional items increased by 3.3% to £17.8m. Statutory profit before tax decreased by 11.3% to £16.9m (2014: £19.0m)

· Free cash flow was £7.4m. Net debt stands at £19.9m (representing a net debt/EBITDA ratio of 0.4 times)

· The Funkin business is performing well against our pre-acquisition expectations

· Investment in our Milton Keynes site continued during the period with the successful commissioning of carton packaging capability and the commencement of the warehouse capacity increase project, due to be completed in early 2016

· Interim dividend of 3.36p per share (2014: 3.11p), an increase of 8.0% on the prior year

... sorry mate thought this was a Welsh rugby team thread :-)

FINAL RESULTS for the year ended 27 January 2018

A.G. BARR p.l.c., ("A.G. BARR"), which produces and markets some of the UK's leading drinks brands, including IRN-BRU, Rubicon, Strathmore and Funkin, announces its final results for the 52 weeks ended 27 January 2018.

Financial headlines

● Statutory profit before tax increased by 4.2% to £44.9m (2017: £43.1m) on revenue up 8.0% to £277.7m (2017: £257.1m)

● Profit before tax and exceptional items* increased by 4.0% to £44.1m (2017: £42.4m)

● Gross margin* increased by 20bps to 47.1%

● Operating margin before exceptional items* decreased by 60bps to 16.2%

● Basic earnings per share before exceptional items* increased by 3.4% to 31.30p (2017: 30.26p)

● Basic earnings per share increased by 4.8% to 32.25p (2017: 30.78p)

● Net cash position at year end of £15.0m (2017: £9.7m)

● Proposed final dividend of 11.84p per share (2017: 10.87p) to give a proposed total dividend for the year of 15.55p per share, an increase of 8.0% over the prior year



Strategic highlights

● Strong core brand trading and the continued successful innovation accelerated growth across our soft drinks portfolio, significantly outperforming the market

● Funkin revenue growth of 25% reflecting growth across all product segments

● 99% of portfolio now out of scope of the soft drinks industry levy

● A new long term strategic partnership agreement completed with Bundaberg Brewed Drinks effective April 2018, in addition to the San Benedetto partnership disclosed earlier in the year

● PET investment at Milton Keynes delivered successfully

● Share repurchase programme progressing to plan

● Strong innovation pipeline for 2018


Roger White, Chief Executive, commented:

"Over the past 12 months we have delivered consistent broad-based sales growth across our portfolio, well ahead of the soft drinks market performance throughout the year, supported by successful innovation, strong core brands and further development of our partnerships.

The UK economic landscape is expected to remain uncertain for business as a whole, with regulation, changing customer dynamics and consumer preferences adding further volatility for the soft drinks industry. We have a strong and flexible business model and a growing portfolio of brands, both established and nascent, which reflect the requirements of today's changing consumers. We remain confident in our ability to capitalise on the opportunities to grow our business and deliver long-term value to shareholders".