22nd Sep 2015 06:30
LONDON (Alliance News) - AG Barr PLC on Tuesday reported a fall in profit in the first half of its financial year, as the Scottish soft drinks company said revenue was hit by challenging market conditions, poor weather and a tough comparative period last year.
AG Barr, which makes brands including Irn-Bru and Rubicon, reported a fall in pretax profit in the six months ended July 25 to GBP16.9 million from GBP19.0 million in the first half of the prior year, as revenue declined to GBP130.3 million from GBP135.7 million.
AG Barr said that the soft drinks market was hit by price deflation and very poor weather, particularly in northern Britain, and that it also faced a tough comparative period the year before which was driven by better-than-average weather and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The company warned that the difficult market conditions are forecast to continue into the second half of the year, and that while the business has been responding well to this, the weather has remained poor and sales momentum is not yet at the run rate the company had targeted.
AG Barr said it expects the achieve full-year results broadly in line with last year.
AG Barr will pay an interim dividend of 3.36 pence, up 8% on the 3.11p it paid the year before.
"Our focus in the coming months will be to build our sales momentum and continue our long-term brand investment strategy," Chief Executive Roger White said in a statement.
"As we look towards 2016 it is anticipated that the business will return to growth and begin to see the benefits of our improved operating platform," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; [email protected] @KarolinaAllNews
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