26th Mar 2019 08:31
LONDON (Alliance News) - Irn-Bru maker AG Barr PLC on Tuesday said its profit was largely flat in its most recent year due to a one-off pension charge and absence of a property disposal gain.
The soft drinks company posted a pretax profit of GBP44.5 million for the year ended January 26, down 0.9% from GBP44.9 million the year before.
This was largely the consequence of a one-off past service pension charge of GBP700,000, which was not incurred the year before, as well as an exceptional GBP800,000 gain on property disposal the year before.
AG Barr said it is working with the pension trustee in order to de-risk pension liabilities as well as securing its commitments to employee benefits as part of its strategic risk management and described its overall pension deficit as "manageable".
Revenue, however, increased 5.6% to GBP279.0 million from GBP264.1 million, resulting in a 2.5% increase in profit before tax and exceptional items to GBP45.2 million.
AG Barr has declared a final dividend of 12.74 pence per share, taking its total dividend for the year to 16.64p per share from 15.55p per share, an increase of 7.0%.
AG Barr Chief Executive Roger White said: "Whilst the uncertainty across the UK economy is likely to prevail for the foreseeable future, we have consistently demonstrated over the long-term that our strategy and execution are fit for purpose and resilient. The markets in which we operate are robust and provide us with continued opportunities to grow."
"We have exciting plans to deliver across the group and are confident of continuing to make further progress in the coming year," White added.
Shares in AG Barr were down 1.4% at 776.00p on Tuesday morning.
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