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Irn-Bru maker AG Barr 'ambitious to develop'

AG Barr says there is plenty of opportunity to grow its brands organically as the Scottish soft drinks maker goes back to basics following the collapse of merger talks with Britvic last year.

Britvic, the company behind Robinsons and Tango, is in merger talks with Irn-Bru and Tizer maker AG Barr.
Irn-Bru was famous for its 'Made in Scotland from Girders' strapline Credit: Photo: Daniel Jones

By now Roger White, the chief executive of AG Barr, had hoped to be managing a British soft drinks giant that brought together brands such as Irn-Bru and Robinsons.

But after Britvic last summer walked away from a potential merger with its smaller rival, AG Barr’s full-year results on Tuesday were a rather more humdrum affair.

Alex Short, finance director of AG Barr, said the company had returned to its knitting of investing in its brands such as Irn-Bru and Rubicon fruit juices to drive organic growth, even though to the outside world the strategy may seem a bit “boring”.

Recent innovations include the launch of Irn-Bru ice cream as the Scottish company seeks to increase its sales south of the Border.

The excitement of a potential £1.4bn merger may be long gone but AG Barr proposed handing its investors a final dividend of 8.19p a share for 2013, taking the total pay-out for the year to 11.02p a share, up 10pc, after turnover rose almost 7pc to £254.1m.

Annual pre-tax profit, including exceptional costs, rose to £34.3m from £31.6m.

Mr White said the business has "benfited hugely" from the challenges of the last year and has emerged "stronger, fitter and more ambitious to develop".