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AG Barr PLC said on Tuesday its first half performance has improved from last year, with warm summer weather in the UK boosting sales.
The drinks maker is based in Cumbernauld, Scotland, and produces and markets a number of well-known UK brands, including Irn-Bru, Rubicon, and Funkin.
In the six months ended 31 July, the company reported pretax profit of £24.7 million, up 1.2% from £24.4 million a year prior. It attributed last year's first half profit performance to a number of one-off factors, including compensation for the removal of a Cumbernauld wind turbine, and sales of distribution depots.
Revenue increased by 17% to £157.9 million from £135.3 million.
The company said growth was driven by ‘ongoing brand investment and the successful execution of our pricing and promotional activity’. It also said trading benefited from warm summer weather and continued Covid-19 recovery.
The drinks maker expects that high inflation levels will continue to create challenging economic conditions for consumers and industry alike, but intends to take ‘appropriate mitigating action’ to limit its full year impact. It said that AG Barr's experience through Covid-19 made it confident the company could remain ‘profitable and cash-generative through prolonged disruption’.
It lifted its interim dividend payout by 25% to 2.50 pence per share from 2.00 pence.
AG Barr shares were trading 0.7% lower at 498.00 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
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